


Star Trek: Tranquility

by Jenny1990



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Nonbinary Character, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-08-20 03:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20221288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenny1990/pseuds/Jenny1990
Summary: The adventures of the light freighter Tranquility in the early 25th century.





	1. Season 1, episode 1: Ixus

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:  
_Tranquility_ crew:  
ARRIC LAIBAN: Ship’s captain, 51, male Cardassian. Arric is surprisingly easygoing for a Cardassian, especially a Cardassian veteran.  
ORLAN KAIPO: Ship’s pilot, 34, male Bajoran. Friendly, with a love for adventure.  
DESCENNI CRETEKA: Ship’s medic, 52, female Romulan. Generally kind and empathetic, Creteka has a strong sense of self.  
PRIETA MIRAN: Ship’s mechanic, 32, female Cardassian. Wife of Kaipo, partner of Creteka, mother of Zisfir, Prieta has a large, loving family that she is protective of and nervous about losing.  
JIL LANARI: First Mate and Chief Engineer, 50, female Cardassian. Lanari is a jerkass, but strongly loyal to Laiban, who she served alongside; that does not preclude her from criticizing him when she sees fit. Good with money.  
KAJYN: Ship’s hand, 47, male Reman. A former revolutionary who served with Shinzon on the Scimitar before becoming disillusioned and going mercenary. He’s found a home on Tranquility.  
ZISFIR MIRAN: Ship’s mascot, 12, female half-Bajoran/half-Cardassian. Zisfir identifies with both sides of her heritage, and her three parents encourage this. Quite happy with her life.  
Passengers:  
TALIS VELAL: 139, female Romulan. Amiable.  
SHEARI VELAL: 14, female Romulan. Talis’s niece, Sheari is the daughter of Romulan diplomats. She and Talis are on vacation to see their family on Ixus. Friends with Zisfir.

_Hopper_ crew:  
Cmdr. T’VEL: XO, 86, female Vulcan. T’Vel appears to be an ordinary Vulcan, with repressed emotions, precise language, and so forth.  
Cpt. HANNAH TAGGART: Intelligence officer, 38, female human. Aggressive, prone to making snap decisions.  
Cadet IOLANDA OLYA MEDVEDEVA: Engineering cadet, 21, female human. Medvedeva grew up on a Federation colony world with a sizable Ursinoid population, and picked up their aggressiveness.  
Lt. SALMA YE HOLENA: Courier pilot, 28, female Orion. Salma is physically strong, yet empathetic; she joined Starfleet against her mother’s plans.  
Lt. QORDILYA: Xenobotanist, 25, female Klingon. Born to Klingon emigrants living on Earth, qorDIlya’ identifies more with her homeworld than her ancestry.  
LtC. ORLAN LARENT: Security/Tactical, 65, male Bajoran. Estranged father of Kaipo. Larent is a veteran of the Bajoran Resistance.  
LtC. ALENIS MARIKA: Chief Engineer, 39, female Bajoran. Perpetually sunny.  
LtC. VALARA DEVA: Science Officer, 37, female Orion. Sardonic, but still friends with Alenis. Does have an interest in alien languages and cultures.  
Cpt. VITUS BERMÚDEZ: Captain, 49, male Human. A Starfleet Captain with a fondness for catchphrases, a tic he picked up from his early days on the _Enterprise_.

Others:  
XIA CORVAN: Ship’s hand, _Hawk-Bat_, 17, female Romulan. A little small-minded.  
Gen. CHIREX: Warlord, 98, male Romulan. Wants to think of himself as a heroic figure, building order out of chaos.  
Cpt. NITLU: 54, female Klingon. Captain of an obsolete Klingon ship, nItlu’ lived for a time in the Federation, where her daughter qorDIlya’ still is.  
Cmdre MANDA KORROK: 62, male Saurian. Commander of the Starfleet squadron assigned to patrol this region of Romulan space. Cautious.  
TARANTARAN: Captain, _Tranquil-travels_, 39, male Nerenneren. A happy spider-alien, excited to be out in space!

“IXUS”

Fade in.

Exterior shot of _Tranquility_ (a starship that looks somewhat like a Cardassian take on the _Firefly_-class) at warp, as we hear a lightly twangy voice from a preteen girl.

ZISFIR MIRAN: Okay, here goes. “Ship’s log, Starship Tranquility, Stardate, uh... nine three four oh ... six?” Or is it oh seven?

We slowly zoom in on the bridge of Tranquility. We hear a drawl:

ORLAN KAIPO: We usually backfill the stardates when we file the logs, don’t worry about it.

As we continue zooming in, we discover that’s the voice of a brown-skinned, black-haired Bajoran man, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and jeans, wearing a Bajoran earring. This is KAIPO, the ship’s pilot, leaning back at his station, feet resting on the console, looking relaxed.  
We see a Cardassian woman with very neat brown hair in an outfit clearly inspired by old Cardassian armor, seated stiffly at one of the stations. This is JIL LANARI, first mate, chief engineer, etc., and she is quite cold right now; the environmental controls aren’t quite working right at the moment.  
We see a Romulan woman with olive skin and messy black hair, in a mustard overcoat over a plaid top and brown pants, sitting at a station with a bolted-on Constitution-style science scope; this is DESCENNI CRETEKA, the ship’s doctor and a general ship’s hand, and her attention is focused on her PADD at the moment.  
We also see a Cardassian man in a brown coat over a teal jumpsuit, with patches on the shoulders of the coat; this is ARRIC LAIBAN, ship’s captain, standing awkwardly at the elevated captain’s station. He looks a little cold.  
Finally, we see a half-Bajoran, half-Cardassian brown-skinned preteen girl with black hair standing next to ARRIC, in a bright yellow jumpsuit with shoulder patches that match Arric’s and a cute scarf; she is also wearing a Bajoran earring. This is ZISFIR, and she’s the ship’s ... summer mascot.

ARRIC: I usually just put in the mission day as a placeholder.

ZISFIR: ‘Kay. “‘Mission Day Six’. We are set to arrive at Ixus Two, with...” 

She taps at ARRIC’s console, activating the comm system. 

ZISFIR: Mom, how’s our cargo looking?

We cut to a brief shot of the cargo bay, where a Cardassian woman in a cardigan over a more muted jumpsuit and a scarf that matches Zisfir’s and a Reman man in a teal jumpsuit are standing at a catwalk overlooking several crates. These are PRIETA MIRAN, ship’s mechanic, and KAJYN, ship’s hand/security. Prieta looks up from her PADD at Kajyn, who is scanning with a tricorder. Kajyn nods, and then Prieta taps a wall panel.

PRIETA: Pergium’s stable, prefercite’s secure, and the kali-fel’s doing fine. No radiation leaks, no problems.

ZISFIR (voiceover): “... 45 kilograms of pergium, two isotons of prefercite, one case of Romulan ale, and...” Hey, Velal, y’all ready?

Cut to a brief shot of an older Romulan woman and a teenaged Romulan girl, waiting in guest quarters. These are TALIS VELAL and SHEARI VELAL, Romulan tourists visiting family on Ixus, and they are holding their bags.

SHEARI sighs, tugging at the scarf ZISFIR gave her. She taps a wall panel. Her voice is very proper.

SHEARI: Yes. We are finished packing, and are ready to depart.

ZISFIR: Good t’hear. Come to the bridge, you won’t wanna miss this. 

We cut back to the bridge. ZISFIR taps the console again to disconnect comms. 

LANARI: Is this your bridge to invite people up to, young lady?

ZISFIR looks hurt.

ARRIC: I’ll allow it.

ZISFIR: “... two passengers, all accounted for. Crew manifest unchanged.”

We see the crew manifest pop up on ARRIC’s display, with little pictures of each of the crew by their names.

ZISFIR: “ETA...”

She leans forward to look at a display on ARRIC’S console.

ZISFIR: “... one minute to system entry, 24 minutes to docking with Ixus Station.” There, that good?

KAIPO: Short, accurate, to the point. The kid’s better at it than you, Cap.

ZISFIR: “Kid?” I’m almost thirteen!

ARRIC laughs. The door at the back of the bridge opens and we see SHEARI and TALIS, bags in hand. KAIPO sits up.

KAIPO: Almost accurate. Cap, I’m thinking we give our guests a little show?

ARRIC: Sounds good.

KAIPO presses a button on his console, and _Tranquility_ leaves warp a little early, on the fringes of the Ixus system.

KAIPO: So, Ixus is a system with -- Sensors.

KAIPO’S tone is suddenly cold, serious. He sees something - or, rather, the absence of something. CRETEKA checks her scope. ZISFIR steps back; at a glance from ARRIC, she descends the ladder leading to the main bridge, joining the VELALS.

CRETEKA: Nothing. No traffic in the system. Wait, I see something - that’s a _torpedo_!

ARRIC: Launch the beacon, then cloak. Go evasive.

KAIPO taps at his console, and then the lights on the bridge, already a bit dim, go much dimmer. Tranquility’s cloak has a very significant power draw.

TALIS: Excuse me, captain, but what is going on?

ARRIC ignores her, laser-focused on his displays. As is the rest of the crew. Lanari and Arric speak in clipped, professional tones; this was their job once, and it is again. Creteka and Kaipo can’t help but let a little bit of nervousness color their voices, however.

ZISFIR (whispering): Pirates. 

SHEARI (whispering): Are you going to fight them?

ZISFIR (whispering): You kidding? We’re not a warbird. We hide, and hope someone sees our distress beacon before they find us.

***

Establishing shot of USS _Hopper_, NCC-87308, a _Turing_-class ship, which resembles the _Akira_ class, but upgraded and stretched. We hear an even, precise feminine voice:

COMMANDER T’VEL: We have entered the Ixus system, sir. Sensors indicate debris consistent with fragments of a distress beacon in the outer asteroid belt. Sensors confirm no orbital traffic at Ixus II. Sensors confirm severe damage to Ixus Station.

A similar zoom puts us on a bridge laid out somewhat like the _Enterprise-E_. We see CAPTAIN VITUS BERMÚDEZ, CAPTAIN HANNAH TAGGART (a strikingly tall officer from Starfleet Intelligence), T’VEL (a brown-skinned Vulcan with the traditional Vulcan haircut; XO), LTC ORLAN LARENT (a brown-skinned Bajoran man with greying hair, but a distinct resemblance to KAIPO; Security/Tactical Officer), and OTHER BRIDGE OFFICERS.

VITUS: Well, beacons and stations don’t just spontaneously destroy themselves. Let’s start with the beacon. Helm, take us to the outer belt; Ms. T’Vel, initiate a tachyon scan as we go. Let’s see what we’ve got going on.

T'VEL briefly looks annoyed, but shrugs it off and works the console with gloved hands.

T’VEL: Initiating scan ... sensors detect tachyon emissions consistent with a class-4 cloaking device within the gas clouds of Ixus VI.

ORLAN: Class-4? Ixus wasn’t unprotected; I can’t imagine a single small raider could do all this damage. 

ORLAN speaks with a drawl.

TAGGART: Might not be a raider - could be some poor unlucky smuggler.

Taggart has an Oklahoman accent.

VITUS: Whatever it is, it’s our best lead so far. Open a channel.

COMMS OFFICER: Channel open.

VITUS: “To the cloaked ship at Ixus VI, this is the USS _Hopper_. Please state your intentions in this system.”

Silence.

COMMS OFFICER: No reply.

VITUS: Ping them. 

T’VEL: Range to target is 36,102 kilometers. 

VITUS: “To the cloaked ship at Ixus VI, this is the USS _Hopper_. Please respond.”

T’VEL: Sir, I am detecting torpedo launches at heading 302, range 62,000 kilometers.

VITUS: Targeting us?

T’VEL: No, the torpedoes are tracking towards the cloaked ship. It’s moving, but not nearly fast enough to evade.

VITUS: The ship we just pinged ... Put us between that ship and those torpedoes!

The HELM officer taps at the console, and the bridge view shifts. Soon after, the Hopper shakes under the impact of the torpedoes on the shields.

ORLAN: Shields at 80%.

T’VEL: More torpedo launches, heading 303, range 64,900 kilometers, targeting us.

T’VEL’S voice betrays no sign of concern. ORLAN taps at his console, and Hopper fires a phaser barrage out towards heading 303, but to no effect - the firing ship has moved on. The ship shudders under the impact of more torpedoes.

ORLAN: Shields at 69%.

VITUS: Whatever these pirates are, they can shoot through their cloak - are we looking at a _Scimitar_-type? 

TAGGART: I don’t think so. Ever since we learned about the type 25 years ago, Intelligence has put a priority on information about it. We are confident that all _Scimitars_ have been accounted for, and none of the survivors would be likely to show up around here. But maybe someone’s made more _Scimitar_-type cloaks that we didn’t know about?

T’VEL: I have a suggestion, sir. If this is a _Scimitar_-type cloak, it is best detected at the moment that it fires. Therefore, we need to ensure that our opponent fires at as many targets as possible, so as to triangulate it. I suggest we deploy our probes in such a manner as to simulate a tetryon detection grid.

TAGGART: But _Hopper_ doesn’t have a tetryon detection grid.

T’VEL: No, and it would take too long to convert our existing probes into such a grid, even if we had the materials available - but our opponent does not know that. And the best way for them to deal with our grid would be to engage individual probes before it fully deploys.

VITUS: Very well, let’s make it happen.

Zoom out as we watch the _Hopper_ launching probes, then follow one as it deploys, and is then engaged by a disruptor - and in turn, the disruptor is engaged by a phaser barrage, much faster this time. We pan to another probe as it is engaged, and then another - and then we see the cloak fizzle out, hit by a lucky phaser barrage that manages to penetrate the weak shields, revealing ... a modest-sized warbird. A bit bigger than the old 23rd-century version, and resembling a cross between that and a way-scaled-down Scimitar. Cut back to the bridge of the _Hopper_.

TAGGART: Is that a _Nhaidh_? With a _Scimitar_-type cloak? That thing’s tiny. Enough to take down Ixus Station, but not much more. Why would you use such a powerful cloak on such an old, weak cruiser?

ORLAN: Pirates who got their hands on one, somehow? Or maybe this was a testbed for the _Scimitar’s_ cloak? 

VITUS: Mr. Orlan, we can speculate later. Target their engines and weapons. Disable her, don’t destroy her.

ORLAN taps at his console, and phaser beams lance into the small Romulan ship, followed by explosions.

VITUS: Okay, open a channel.

COMMS OFFICER: Channel open.

VITUS. “Your engines are crippled, your weapons array destroyed. I urge you to surrender -”

Instead, the _Nhaidh_ folds in on itself, then explodes.

ORLAN: That wasn’t us. They dropped containment on their quantum singularity drive.

T’VEL: What kind of pirate would do that?

TAGGART: The kind that fears capture more than death.

VITUS: Stand down to yellow alert. Helm, take us to Ixus Station. Engineering, Medical, prepare damage control and rescue teams -

T’VEL: Sir, the cloaked ship in Ixus VI’s clouds is decloaking. They’re hailing us, requesting permission to assist with recovery efforts at the station.

And we see the Tranquility.

ORLAN: That... that’s a _Firebug_. Cardassian make... Oh no.

***

Open on Ixus Station exterior view. A saucer-shaped station with a central spire and three docking arms, the _Nhaidh_’s attack had cut serious gashes into the hull and spire - and taken down most of its power grid, leaving it mostly dark. We can see _Hopper_ docked on one of the arms; it’s also possible to make out _Tranquility_ docked nearby, but difficult due to its smaller size. We hear a cheery female voice:

LTC. ALENIS MARIKA: Chief Engineer’s Log, Stardate 93407.4. I am leading engineering operations on Ixus Station. My priorities are ensuring structural integrity, restoring power, and bringing the computer grid back online. We are coordinating our efforts with surviving crew from Ixus Station, and with crew from the freighter _Tranquility_ who’ve volunteered to help us out.

We zoom into the top of the central spire, just as forcefields snap into place. We soon see several spacesuited engineers, including MARIKA (a red-haired Bajoran), CADET IOLANDA OLYA MEDVEDEVA (a pale-skinned woman with pale-blonde hair), other Starfleet engineers, a Reman, and PRIETA, in what was the nerve center for the station. The Starfleet engineers all have nameplates and integrated lights at the top of their helmets, and their spacesuits are sleek, pristine, white-and-gold. The Reman’s spacesuit is a plain olive-colored suit with the Ixus Station logo (a pteranodon-looking bird flying above a ringed planet with Romulan text underneath) emblazoned on the chestplate. PRIETA’s suit is bulkier than the others, and the propulsion-pack is clearly a replacement; it has the _Tranquility_ patch logo (a six-legged stylized Cardassian vole in a six-limbed spacesuit, propulsion-pack firing) painted on over the chestplate.

Most of the engineers are at work on the primary computer core, or working to restore power relays and repair gravity plating and sundry other tasks.

MEDVEDEVA is staring at the remains of a slagged computer terminal near the back that she’s been assigned to work on, muttering to herself, tracing patterns in the air with her fingers. She then opens up her toolkit and gets to work.

Tracking shot that goes past MEDVEDEVA, down a corridor, into and down a turbolift shaft (passing a pair of spacesuited Starfleet engineers assessing its structural integrity), through a stopped turbolift car that a Starfleet nurse has just beamed aboard to check on the condition of the passengers, out the shaft near the bottom, through a corridor, passing KAJYN (wearing a mining rig he modified into a spacesuit) and ZISFIR (wearing a cute little carnation-pink spacesuit with neon hazard lights on her propulsion-pack) as they haul the pergium (which cannot be beamed over safely) on a transport cart towards the secondary reactor, and out towards the docking arm - and then:

MEDVEDEVA (voiceover): Пиздец!

Smash cut back to MEDVEDEVA, who is staring at the sparking mess she’s made of the slagged terminal. She tries one fix, then another, then a third, cursing in Russian when each fix fails. We’re zoomed in tight on the terminal itself, as she hits part of it with a wrench, frustrated. The sparking stops for a moment, then starts up again. MEDVEDEVA looks at her wrench, and for a moment it seems like she’s about to try hitting it again.

PRIETA: What the fuck do you think you’re doing?

Zoom out a bit to see PRIETA nearby, a toolkit in hand, looking at the terminal.

MEDVEDEVA: Wasn’t gonna hit -

PRIETA: No, no, you don’t use a wrench! Not on an ‘89.

MEDVEDEVA: Huh?

PRIETA: Nah, you need a hammer for that. Way more satisfying.

MEDVEDEVA looks blankly at PRIETA. Did this civilian just come over to make a joke? She’s not sure if she’s being mocked right now, but she doesn’t like it.

MEDVEDEVA: Or I could fix it?

PRIETA slides forward her own toolkit; inside are a mismatched set of assorted tools, bits, etc.

PRIETA: I’ve worked with ‘89s before. They’re junk, but they’re durable junk at least. And you’re most of the way there...

MEDVEDEVA shrugs, accepts PRIETA’S help, and after a bit of work, she hooks up her PADD to a port on the slagged terminal.

Cut to _Tranquility_ bridge, with a view of _Hopper’s_ bridge on the viewscreen. KAIPO is at the pilot’s station, visibly frustrated; ARRIC is at the back of the bridge, talking quietly with TALIS. On the viewscreen, we see the same bridge team.

KAIPO: It was legitimate salvage!

ORLAN: Once again, I was asking your captain, not the kid he’s hiding behind.

KAIPO: I’m your _son_, and we thought you’d be more comfortable talking to me.

VITUS: Let me get this straight. You acquired this cloaking device three years ago as “legitimate salvage”, installed it yourselves, and, so you claim, you’ve never hauled anything illegal with it?

KAIPO: Well, I guess there was that time last year that we ran the blockade at Pompara, so if you recognize Chirex as legitimate, pretty much any cargo we hauled there was illegal?

ORLAN: What were you hauling, hm? Disruptors? Explosives? Antimatter?

KAIPO: Groat clusters. Y’know, for groatcakes. I’ll forward you the relevant log entries. Does Paw still make groatcakes? His were the _best_.

ORLAN: Don’t try to distract me, kid. Yeah, I see what your log _claims_. How much did you gouge the poor Pomparans?

KAIPO: We didn’t? The Union Fleet people paid for the delivery in advance.

TAGGART: How’d you get past the blockade?

KAIPO: I’m just that good a pilot, ma’am. 

TAGGART is unamused. As KAIPO keeps talking, she looks down at her monitor, eyes widening at what she sees. 

KAIPO: Well, okay, it wasn’t _all_ me. We modified our hull and transponder to resemble one of Chirex’s tankers, faked our destruction, cloaked, and descended among the ‘debris’. Honestly, getting in was pretty easy; getting _out_ was trickier. We launched from atmosphere while cloaked, then crawled our way past the blockade during an induced magnetic storm that disrupted their tachyon detection grid, then hid in the inner belt for a week before we were sure nobody had tailed us.

T’VEL: Why did you hide for a week, rather than warp out under cloak?

KAIPO: We can’t, it drains too much power.

TAGGART: Well, that will have to be fixed. Captain Laiban?

ARRIC turns to face the Starfleet captain.

TAGGART: I would like to hire your ship for a trip to the Blood Gate Nebula.

ARRIC: I’m afraid I am not familiar with that region of space, Captain.

TALIS: I am.

***

Open on the _Tranquility’s_ mess - specifically, the sign listing the rotations for cooking (ARRIC has claimed four of eight slots, KAJYN two, and KAIPO two) and cleaning (Everyone on the crew has a slot, except ZISFIR has two). It’s also the ship’s main meeting space, and that’s what it’s being used for now.

KAJYN: Don’t like it.

Pan over to the table, an oval, at which the crew is seated.

LANARI: Starfleet’s paying, and they’re pretty reliable. The pay is _very_ good, and we’re getting an upgraded power system out of this. That said, we do run the risk of Starfleet deciding they like using us as their pet intelligence ship, which certainly is a concern.

ZISFIR: And an opportunity, right? I mean, it’d be cool, being a spy ship, wouldn’t it?

LANARI and ARRIC frown.

CRETEKA: Zisfir, if you’re not going to take this seriously ...

ZISFIR hangs her head.

ZISFIR: Yes, Maw. I’m sorry.

KAJYN: How good _is_ the pay?

LANARI: 300k upfront, 60k a day after arrival at the Blood Gate, with a hazard pay clause, and that’s all _after_ expenses. It’s excellent timing, too, since we’re taking a loss on the pergium.

PRIETA: Blood Gate, that’s, what, three weeks from Deep Space 12?

ARRIC: Twenty days. Maybe nineteen.

PRIETA: And how long does she expect this all to take?

ARRIC: She’s not sure. Depends on what she finds out there.

CRETEKA: Great, so we could be out there for weeks, for all we know. 

ZISFIR: If you’re worried about me missing school, I think ‘being on a mission for Starfleet’ is probably an excused absence? I mean, Jakarri was off with the _T'Mir_ for six weeks last fall and they didn’t, like, hold her back.

KAIPO: Good to hear.

CRETEKA: I didn’t get a chance to meet this ‘Hannah Taggart’. What’s she like?

ARRIC: She seems fine. 

LANARI: Seemed like an ordinary Starfleet officer to me.

KAIPO: I don’t know why, but I don’t quite trust her. Something about how quick she was to just kinda assume we’d go along with it... 

LANARI: Like I said, ordinary Starfleet officer. Thinks she knows best, and that everyone will just fall in line for the greater good.

ARRIC: So, on the pro side, it’s a good job, for a good cause, with very good pay, and we get an upgrade along the way. On the con side... it’s kinda risky, it’ll get real crowded aboard, plus _maybe_ some mistrust towards Taggart.

CRETEKA: ‘Kinda’ risky.

ARRIC: I dunno, ‘check out some mysterious nebula’ doesn’t really seem anywhere near as risky as ‘sneak past an entire blockade fleet, _twice_.’ And this one pays just as well, if not better.

PRIETA: Well, count me in. I think we’ll all sleep easier if we can track down the people making that cloak.

LANARI: Sure, I’ll bite. Can’t turn down a deal this good.

KAJYN is stony-faced, CRETEKA nervous, ZISFIR excited, and KAIPO uncertain.

KAIPO: Aw, hell. When else are we gonna check out a nebula?

CRETEKA: You don’t trust her, but you’re still up for this?

KAIPO: I’m willing to take a risk for good pay and a chance to see something cool. And, y’know, she’s _Starfleet_. They’re not going to betray us.

CRETEKA nods.

ARRIC: Kajyn?

KAJYN: Don’t like it. Do like getting paid.

ARRIC: Then it’s a job. Dinner’s in eighty metrics. See you then.

Cut to the Miran family quarters. It’s a little cramped, but still a relatively large space, by ship standards - it used to be two different bedrooms, and there’s still a portion of the wall left. On that wall, there’s a Bajoran shrine, next to which is a small pile of TNG-style and Bajoran PADDs and a folded-up mattress - this is ZISFIR’S corner. Across from that wall, a futuristic-looking table, with a built-in computer terminal, a 25th century tailoring kit, and measuring tools, and a nice comfy chair - CRETEKA’S slice. Next to it is another terminal, another shrine, and a pile of Bajoran PADDs - KAIPO’S slice. Along the back wall, there’s a workbench; PRIETA’S toolkit is sitting atop it. There’s another table and chair alongside, with a small terminal and a pile of assorted PADDs, about half of them Cardassian - this is PRIETA’S slice. There’s a table and four chairs in the center of that side of the space, with a chest underneath - the family gaming table. On the other side of the space is the main bedroom, dominated by a very large bed squeezed in; there’s also a closet, a futuristic laundry machine, and a small bathroom with a sonic shower. The family are sitting at the foot of their bed: KAIPO, PRIETA, ZISFIR, CRETEKA.

CRETEKA: Alright, if nobody else is going to say it, I will. I think Zii and at least one of us ought to head back to DS12. Hell, maybe we all should.

ZISFIR: Oh come on! It’s not even been a week, and --

CRETEKA: _And_ we all nearly died! And now Arric’s got us going on some runaway raptor hunt for _Starfleet Intelligence_ \--

PRIETA: You don’t think it’s a good idea? We get to the bottom of this, and --

CRETEKA: I know, but still -- Look, my point is, this is bound to be really dangerous --

KAIPO: You think we don’t know that? Last summer, we ran a _blockade_ \--

ZISFIR: Yeah, and I was scared as hell. But you know what’s scarier? _Not_ being with you, _not_ knowing if you’ll make it back, _not_ knowing if there’ll be a home to return to at all. 

KAIPO: I’m sorry, Zii. I didn’t know.

ZISFIR: Remember those midterms I had to retake in the spring? I - I’d heard about the _Andor Maru_, and I just kept thinking, what if that happened to you out there, and I just couldn’t focus, and - and -

ZISFIR tears up, remembering. 

PRIETA: Why didn’t you tell us how you were feeling?

ZISFIR: I didn’t want to make it harder for you - for any of you. I thought I could manage it - I mean, like, half my classmates are Starfleet kids, y’know?

KAIPO: If I’d known, I -

ZISFIR: No, no - I know you love it out here - _I_ love it out here. Being out among the stars, always seeing new places and new faces...

KAIPO: Still. Maybe we all should just quit.

ZISFIR: And leave the ship behind? 

CRETEKA: They’ll cope.

[pause]

CRETEKA: Okay, yeah, no. 

CRETEKA sighs. PRIETA reaches over and holds her hand.

CRETEKA: It’d still be the logical move. But I can’t do that to the ship.

KAIPO: If us being apart is so hard on _Zii_...

PRIETA: We’ll figure something out. 

***

Open on _Tranquility_ cargo bay the next day, where we see MARIKA, MEDVEDEVA, other Starfleet engineers, TAGGART, T’VEL, LANARI, and PRIETA. T’VEL and TAGGART are carrying bags; MEDVEDEVA and the other Starfleet engineers are carrying toolkits.

LANARI: Okay. Here’s how this is going to work. We’re not going to bother with your triple-redundant safety setup, because that’s just not needed. You’re going to install the upgraded power systems under my supervision, with Miran’s help. And then you’re going to get off my ship. You got that, _Bajoran_?

PRIETA is glaring angrily at LANARI the entire time. MARIKA is a bit taken aback; TAGGART is annoyed. But it’s MEDVEDEVA who speaks up.

MEDVEDEVA: No, _you_ listen! You are going to listen to our chief engineer, and do exactly as she says, because she knows what she’s doing and you don’t know the first thing about Starfleet power systems, now, do you? We’re going to install the new power systems, reconfigure your power grid to be triply redundant so that you don’t _blow yourselves up_, which, from what I’ve seen on my initial walkthrough, is going to happen any minute now, and both of you are going to _help out_ so that you know exactly how to fix it when you put it through whatever godawful things you’re going to do with it. Got that?

LANARI glowers at MEDVEDEVA.

MARIKA: Yeah, what she said.

TAGGART: I see a bright future for you, Cadet.

PRIETA: Okay, this is the part where you say “yes ma’am.”

LANARI: No, this is the part where I ask what any of you interlopers know about a _Firebug_ \--

MARIKA: Well, my secondary school back in Dakhur was built out of an old _Firebug_, so quite a bit, actually? No thanks to _you_.

PRIETA grabs LANARI’S arm.

LANARI: Ugh. Yes, ma’am. 

MARIKA: Well, actually, I was hoping you could show us around, give us a guided tour. I mean, this is going to be modifying the very guts of your ship, so of course you’re going to be part of the process.

PRIETA: That’dbegreatthanksnowifyou’dcomethiswayI’llstartusoff -

PRIETA starts off before LANARI can change her mind and decide to pick a fight after all, and the other engineers start to follow, but...

TAGGART: Lieutenant Commander Alenis, before you go...

MARIKA stops.

MARIKA: Yes?

TAGGART: Could you spare that cadet? I think she’d learn a lot if she came with T’Vel and I.

MARIKA: Yes, I agree, ma’am.

MEDVEDEVA: Um, I’m not sure--

MARIKA: It’s an excellent opportunity for you to get some field experience that most cadets never see!

TAGGART: Report aboard to me before 1300, cadet.

The camera follows the engineers out of the cargo bay, but splits off to head down the main corridor rather than to the engine room. The camera comes to guest quarters, and TAGGART comes right after, pressing the door chime.

TALIS (v/o): Enter.

The camera follows TAGGART inside, where we see TALIS sitting on a couch, while SHEARI and ZISFIR (today wearing a floral-pattern top and jeans) are fencing with practice swords. SHEARI wields hers with both hands; ZISFIR is imitating a sword-fighting stance she saw in an Andorian holoprogram, with one hand behind her back. SHEARI is visibly better at sword-fighting.

TAGGART: So. The Blood Gate nebula. You’ve been there?

TALIS: I grew up there; my mother was a researcher at Jarok’s Beacon. Please, for both our sakes, don’t try and guess how many years ago that was. Fortunately for you, I haven’t lost touch.

Meanwhile, SHEARI has pushed away ZISFIR’S practice sword and points hers at her opponent’s neck.

SHEARI: I have you now!

ZISFIR sighs.

ZISFIR: Yes, yes, you win again... or do you! 

ZISFIR grabs a micro-PADD from her back pocket and points it at SHEARI; pretending it’s a hand disruptor, she makes the appropriate sound.

SHEARI: Cheater. You wouldn’t be able to pull that off in a real duel.

TAGGART: Well, then, what can I expect?

TALIS: What are you looking to find, Captain? 

TAGGART: Answers.

TALIS: How vague. Especially for an intelligence officer.

TAGGART: It takes one to know one. Naval intelligence, if I’m not mistaken?

TALIS: Very well, I’ll give you the Tal Diann perspective, as it were. Blood Gate’s near the Klingon border, so it used to have a pretty thick garrison. The garrison tried to maintain order in the post-Hobus breakdown, but pretty quickly it splintered. General Chirex either tried to hold the force together, or was the main instigator behind it splitting, depending on who you believe; either way, he sided with the Imperial Romulan State at Rator until that fell apart, and took the majority of the fleet with him.

TAGGART: That takes us to ‘97, right?

TALIS: ‘18, yes. So, Taris dies, her empire falls apart, Union Fleet starts to really take shape. Sela and Tebok are off fighting over Devoras and Khazara, and General Velal - a cousin of mine, and not a particularly well-liked one - decides Blood Gate’s going to be his base of power. Chirex proclaims his loyalty to Velal, and when the Union Fleet rebels take Ivix and Pompara, Velal takes his flagship and Chirex’s fleet with him to ‘assert order.’

TAGGART: And then Velal dies at Ivix, and Chirex takes charge.

TALIS: That’s the official story; from what I’ve heard, Chirex leaked Velal’s position to the Union Fleet. Or, at least, to his old friend Tiaru Jarok. 

TAGGART: Wait, Jarok and Chirex are friends?

TALIS: They were. Not sure where they stand now.

TAGGART: So, Blood Gate’s Chirex’s territory?

TALIS: Yes and no. As usual for us, it’s complex. Yes, Chirex was based in the region, but he’s been out of that space for years; his base of power these days is more Alixros and Iberius. In practice, what you’re looking at is surface loyalty but underneath that, chaos.

As TALIS and TAGGART continue to speak, the camera moves away, turning off to the mess. KAIPO (in a different Hawaiian shirt) and CRETEKA (wearing a sweater vest over another plaid top) are sitting next to each other, laughing at a joke that KAJYN (across from them, wearing overalls) has just told. Over in the kitchenette, ARRIC (in an apron over top of khakis and a light-brown top) is cracking alien-looking eggs over a large frying pan. 

T’VEL enters, pack in hand. 

KAIPO: Ah, one of our guests. 

T’VEL: Yes. I am Commander T’Vel.

CRETEKA: Welcome aboard! Make yourself at home. Captain’s cooking up breakfast. 

T’VEL: Thank you. Pardon me for asking, but where is your food replicator?

ARRIC turns towards T’VEL, shaking the eggs in the pan. He smiles at the Vulcan.

ARRIC: Don’t have, nor need, one, ma’am!

T’VEL looks vaguely annoyed for a moment. KAJYN and KAIPO notice, but only KAJYN understands.

KAIPO: Honestly, I’ve tried replicated food before, and it’s just so ... samey.

ARRIC: Yeah. Sure, you’ll get a good regova, but it’ll be the same regova every time.

ARRIC flips all four eggs at once without looking.

T’VEL: There is value to consistency.

ARRIC: Maybe, but variety is the spice of life.

T’VEL: Then, logically, it would be better to have access to a food replicator, with its vastly larger database of possible meal options?

KAJYN: They’ve got you there.

T’VEL smiles slightly, and is unsure why.

CRETEKA: Well, if you don’t mind our inconsistent, limited selection, feel free to join us.

T’VEL nods, and takes a seat. ARRIC turns back to his eggs, turns off the heat, and plates each egg separately, seasoning each with different spices. He stops at the last one.

ARRIC: Ma’am, how do you prefer your regova seasoned?

T’VEL’s slight smile fades.

T’VEL: I have not had that before.

ARRIC shrugs. After a bit, he walks out with the four plates on a serving tray, and serves each in turn. CRETEKA and T’VEL’S eggs appear to have the same spices on them. Everyone but for T’VEL (and ARRIC) starts eating.

T’VEL: Pardon me for asking, but is this made from animal products?

ARRIC looks confused.

ARRIC: They’re eggs, so, yes?

T’VEL: I see. Vulcans do not eat eggs.

ARRIC looks embarrassed and runs back to the kitchenette.

CRETEKA: How unfortunate for Vulcans.

T’VEL: But not for the animals who would have been forced to lay the eggs and have them taken from them without consent.

CRETEKA shrugs.

CRETEKA: They’re just birds. But hey, to each their own. 

T’VEL again smiles slightly.

ARRIC returns with a plate of alien fruits.

ARRIC: I hope this is more to your liking, ma’am?

And again, T’VEL’S smile fades. But the Vulcan nods, taking the fruit plate. ARRIC takes T’VEL’S unwanted eggs and sits next to the Vulcan.

***

Open on _Tranquility_ mess, three days later. The rotation is completely different. For cooking: TAGGART has the first slot, then ARRIC has two slots, T’VEL has two, KAJYN has two, and KAIPO has one. For cleaning, each of the Starfleeters has two slots, and ZISFIR has the remaining two.

TAGGART is frying steaks (and tofu - the meat was replicated back on the _Hopper_, but it’s the principle). LANARI, ARRIC, T’VEL, TALIS, and MEDVEDEVA are seated at the table. 

TAGGART: Would it have killed you guys to put a grill on this ship?

LANARI: Potentially, yes? It would represent a fire hazard, certainly.

TAGGART: Maybe, but grilled steak is so much better than pan-fried. And I’d bet the same for tofu. 

A soccer ball rolls into the mess. LANARI picks it up

LANARI: Zisfir!

SHEARI (v/o): Sorry, ma’am, that was my fault.

LANARI: Well, she definitely should know better, and so should you. No sports near the mess.

SHEARI steps into frame.

SHEARI: I promise we won’t do it again.

LANARI: You two are still not getting your ball back.

ARRIC: _Jil_...

LANARI: We have _rules_. Someone’s gotta enforce them

KAIPO (v/o): Cap, we’ve picked up a distress call. 

Cut to _Tranquility_ bridge. KAIPO is in the pilot’s station, ARRIC at the captain’s station, LANARI and KAJYN crewing the other two bridge stations. T’VEL is standing at the back of the bridge. On the viewscreen, we see an alien freighter, oddly shaped, with eight nacelle-like structures in a ring around the hull; a complex concentric strut network connects the structures and the hull.

ARRIC: Hail them.

The viewscreen is replaced with a view of an alien bridge. A brownish SPIDER-LIKE ALIEN, about a meter tall, scurries forward. The alien has a squeaky voice, like others of their species.

SPIDER-LIKE ALIEN: Miss Captain, thank you! Help has arrived!

ARRIC shrugs.

ARRIC: I am captain Arric Laiban of the starship _Tranquility_. How may we assist you?

SPIDER: Miss Captain Arriclaiban, I am Mister Captain Tarantaran of the spacecraft _Tranquil-travels_. Unfortunately, our spacecraft has suffered all kinds of technical faults, and we are stranded in space; can you assist?

ARRIC: I will see what we can do, Tarantaran. Can you forward us your technical data?

LANARI: That design... I’ve never seen it before.

TARANTARAN: Well, I’ve never seen your design before, Miss. This is space, you encounter new ships all the time! That’s the exciting part about it!

T’VEL: I believe I recognize design elements.

TARANTARAN: That is good to hear, Mister!

T’VEL has a slight smile.

Cut to interior, _Tranquil-travels_. TARANTARAN and a grey-colored spider-alien are leading T’VEL, MEDVEDEVA, PRIETA, and LANARI through a low corridor. MEDVEDEVA stops, suddenly, startled. 

MEDVEDEVA: Wait, is that a thalaron generator I’m detecting under here?

TARANTARAN: Yes, Miss Iolandamedveda! Thalaron radiation is a great energy source!

MEDVEDEVA: It is also extremely dangerous!

GREY-SPIDER: Miss Iolandamedveda, we keep our thalaron thoroughly contained. No Nerenneren spacecraft has been lost to a thalaron radiation-related accident in thirteen years!

T’VEL: Where did you acquire a thalaron generator? It is highly restricted technology -

TARANTARAN: Mister T’Vel, do you think we Nerenneren aren’t clever?

He gestures angrily with two of his limbs. 

TARANTARAN: We _invented_ the thalaron generator.

T’VEL: Ah. I understand.

GREY-SPIDER: Can we continue on, now, Miss Iolandamedveda?

Cut to another room with a low ceiling, dominated by a long computer core. The group meets a beige spider-alien and two dark-brown spiders-aliens.

TARANTARAN: Miss Havarhavar, Mister Yerovyerov, and Mister Tawartawar, meet Mister T’Vel, Miss Lanarijustcallmelanari, Miss Prietamiran, and Miss Iolandamedveda. They’re going to help us fix our computer issues!

LANARI is annoyed; PRIETA chuckles. T’VEL, once again, has a slight smile.

YEROVYEROV (the darker of the brown spiders): If you’d follow along on this terminal, Miss Havarhavar is going to reproduce the events leading to the main errors that are coming up.

The Starfleet and Tranquility engineers huddle up on the indicated terminal.

HAVARHAVAR (the beige spider): I know the computer architecture might be unfamiliar to you all, being aliens and such, but -

PRIETA: This is a ‘38. This is exactly like a ‘38.

TARANTARAN: Miss Prietamiran, what do you mean, “a ‘38”?

PRIETA: Type-38 Romulan computer. Those things are over eighty years old.

YEROVYEROV: I have no idea what you’re talking about, Miss Prietamiran - this is a Mark One Multicomputer, one of the first products of the finest computer engineering firm on Aracharach. She’s old, but not that old, so she can’t be that. Unless...

HAVARHAVAR: You think the rumors are true? That they were copying alien technology?

PRIETA: Well, someone must’ve been copying someone, because this is incredibly familiar. Anyways, I think I see what’s wrong here...

Cut to _Tranquility_ cargo bay. TAGGART and T’VEL are talking, while MEDVEDEVA, LANARI, ZISFIR, and SHEARI are playing soccer in the background (MEDVEDEVA and SHEARI vs LANARI and ZISFIR).

TAGGART: As far as we knew, the thalaron generator was a Tal Shiar project. But you’re saying these “Nerenneren” claim to have invented it?

T’VEL: Yes. And yet they are making use of it solely as a power source; they were horrified to find out that it could be used as a bioweapon.

TAGGART: Bizarre. You’re absolutely sure those were thalaron generators you saw? Not some confusion in terminology?

T’VEL: You saw Medvedeva’s scans. We all did.

TAGGART: We should head for their homeworld.

T’VEL: With respect, ma’am, this is a possible first contact situation, and _Tranquility_ is not prepared for that. But _Hopper_ is. I recommend sending the coordinates for Aracharach to Captain Bermúdez.

TAGGART: Agreed.

Fade out.  



	2. Season 1, episode 2: Enter the Botanist

Fade in.

Open on _Tranquility_ orbiting a planet. There’s a small space station, but it’s gone dark.

KAIPO (v/o): “_Tranquility_ to Tyrrix Traffic Control, please respond.”

We zoom in on _Tranquility’s_ bridge. KAIPO is at the pilot’s station, PRIETA and CRETEKA are crewing the secondary stations, LANARI is at the captain’s station. TALIS and TAGGART are standing near the back.

KAIPO: “_Tranquility_ to anyone, please respond.”

CRETEKA: I am reading no Romulans no Remans, no sapient lifesigns whatsoever on the station or the planet.

TAGGART: Some lead you’ve given us, Ms. Velal.

TALIS: Tyrrix being abandoned is information.

TAGGART: And information is power. But why was Tyrrix abandoned?

Cut to TALIS, MEDVEDEVA, and PRIETA in spacesuits (TALIS’S suit is borrowed from LANARI, and is matte black) inside Tyrrix Station’s Operations Center. TALIS directs the two engineers to cut open a specific section, near the tail of the raptor painted on the ceiling. Upon doing so, they find a green box with a keypad; TALIS types in a 7-digit combination, and the box then slides open, revealing an audiobug.

TALIS (over comms): “This should contain all audio from Tyrrix Station Ops from the last 180 days. It overwrites every half-year; back in the day, we would have replaced the recorder as appropriate during routine maintenance.”

TALIS connects her PADD to the audiobug and begins downloading. Fifteen seconds later, the download is complete.

TALIS (over comms): “This is too small a file to be half a year’s worth of audio. Someone must have tampered with this device.”

Cut to TAGGART, T’VEL, CRETEKA (wearing a flannel top, brown pants and boots), and KAJYN (wearing a jumpsuit covered in patches, a hat, and boots), walking through a barren field on Tyrrix.

KAJYN and T’VEL walk into an abandoned farmhouse. The camera follows them inside, and follows them room to room. The two open and close drawers, searching for any clues. Everything looks normal, as if the previous owners had just stepped outside and would be back any moment. Then KAJYN turns and sees a framed picture of a Reman couple and their child. He stares, then returns to the search. The two find old PADDs in the kitchen; T’VEL takes them. KAJYN opens a port on the house’s terminal, pulling out its memory. They then step outside and rejoin TAGGART and CRETEKA.

KAJYN: I - I knew the family who lives - who lived here. They were colonists, part of a program by Vixtot to try to prove to the Empire that we had more worth than just miners.

KAJYN scowls.

KAJYN: Fucking gradualists.

Cut to Tranquility cargo bay. TAGGART is sitting with TALIS, looking at the recording from the audiobug she had found on Tyrrix Station. Next to them, T’VEL and KAJYN are paging through files from the PADDs and the memory chip they took from the farmhouse terminal.

TALIS: 90 days of routine operations, 15 seconds of screaming, and then it just cuts off.

KAJYN: The most recent entry here dates to three months ago.

Cut to _Tranquility_ orbiting a different planet. There’s a small space station, but it’s mostly dark.

LANARI (v/o): “_Tranquility_ to Ocutis Traffic Control, please respond.”

We zoom in on _Tranquility’s_ bridge. LANARI is at the pilot’s station, KAJYN and PRIETA are crewing the secondary stations, ARRIC is at the captain’s station. TALIS and TAGGART are standing near the back.

ROMULAN VOICE (v/o): “_Tranquility_, Ocutis Traffic Control. I guess. You’re welcome to come visit, not that we have much of anything left.”

PRIETA: Scope says there’s maybe 15 people between station and planet combined.

TALIS: This used to be a thriving agriworld. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, plus a reasonable amount of ship traffic.

TAGGART: The files from Ixus Station definitely pointed to Ocutis and Tyrrix. I don’t understand.

Cut to T’VEL, TAGGART, CRETEKA (wearing another flannel top, mustard-brown pants, and the same boots as on Tyrrix), and TALIS, walking through a field on Ocutis alongside one of the few remaining people on Ocutis, an old Romulan FARMER. The field is filled with tall plants blowing in a stiff breeze - once gold and green, but now covered in brown and abnormal growths.

FARMER: I guess I’m just stubborn, is all. I was born here, I’m gonna die here, dammit. So the crops don’t grow right any more. What am I supposed to do, leave? I did my time with the Fleet, saw what’s out there, and frankly, I don’t like it much.

T’VEL: How long have the crops stopped growing right?

FARMER: Roundabouts a year.

CRETEKA frowns. Something is very wrong out here.

CRETEKA: This - these plants - what happened to them isn’t natural.

FARMER: Oh?

CRETEKA: I know this plant. My neighbors farmed it. It never looked like this - this brown, these weird growths...

TAGGART: Huh. What is this?

CRETEKA: How’m I supposed to know? I’m a doctor, not a botanist!

TAGGART: Great, where the hell am I supposed to find a botanist?

T’VEL: On the _Hopper_.

Cut to establishing shot of USS _Hopper_ orbiting a moon of a gas giant, then cut to the surface of the moon, where LT. QORDILYA (a short-haired Klingon woman in a Starfleet uniform) is crouching down, scanning plants. We see the plants move about; the Klingon is unfazed by this.

One attempts to bite her leg. The Klingon casually picks up the plant and throws it into the distance, then taps a recorder.

QORDILYA: “Subject removed from pool due to variant handling responses.”

Her communicator beeps.

QORDILYA: “qorDIlya’ here.”

LTC VALARA DEVA (v/o): “Stand by for transport. Taggart needs you.”

QORDILYA has a quizzical look on her face as she beams out.

Cut to USS _Hopper_. A Peregrine launches, and we follow the fighter as it goes to warp. When we see the cockpit, inside are QORDILYA and LT. SALMA YE HOLENA (a very muscular Orion woman).

QORDILYA: Did we really have to take a _Peregrine_?

SALMA: If we run into anything, you’ll sure be glad we did. Besides, this is a courier-Peregrine.

QORDILYA: What’s the difference?

SALMA: Runs faster, carries less weapons, you can squeeze a few more people aboard, there’s a fridge, and we’ve got a toilet in back.

QORDILYA: Wait, your fighter-Peregrines don’t have a toilet? What do you do if you, um...

SALMA laughs.

SALMA: It’s built into the flight suit, bro. Plus, y’know, you’re not supposed to be out there a long time in a Peregrine, so, go beforehand.

QORDILYA, feeling peckish, unbuckles her seatbelt, gets up, and takes a look in the fridge, then frowns.

QORDILYA: Really?

SALMA: What?

QORDILYA: Protein shakes, tofu, lentils, nuts. That’s it?

SALMA: I’m a vegan.

QORDILYA: Couldn’t you just eat replicated -

SALMA: It’s the principle.

QORDILYA: Even beside that -

SALMA: What, you got a problem with the selection? It’s good food. Proteins, carbs, fats. Builds your body. And bro, you could be doing a whole lot better with yours.

QORDILYA sighs.

***

Establishing shot of USS _Hopper_ orbiting an alien planet. Then cut to exterior shot of Nerenneren dignitaries talking with VITUS, LTC VALARA DEVA (a red-haired Orion woman), and MARIKA.

MARIKA: Why does everyone keep calling our captain “Miss Vitusbermúdez”?

VALARA: Alenis: first, their language marks gender as part of names, and second, they clearly distinguish genders by skintone, and third, it might be an issue with the UT, and fourth, shouldn’t we be focusing on the fact that they use fucking thalaron generators for power generation?

VITUS: Madame Premier, you must understand. Out in the rest of the galaxy, thalaron generators are infamous for being used as a weapon, and are heavily restricted. To hear that you are trading them is highly troubling.

PREMIER: Miss Vitusbermúdez, you and your information packet make the galaxy sound like a monstrous place. Are you suggesting we close our borders? Shut down our interstellar trading program? Hole up like a tredgbeast and build as tough a set of defenses as we can?

The light grey-colored PREMIER scurries forward and motions for VITUS to come close. The Starfleet Captain kneels.

PREMIER (quietly): When that spacecraft crashed down 56 years ago, my predecessors knew the implications of it were scary, so we kept it under wraps. But now I wish we hadn’t - I wish we had let everyone know just how terrifying you people all are.

VITUS (quietly): I’m sorry to hear that. But I want to assure you, the galaxy isn’t all wars and bloodshed. The Federation is committed to peaceful exploration of the stars, and we are busy working to make the region of space you’re in safer and more stable.

PREMIER: That’s nice, but not all that reassuring. We’ve never lost a spacecraft to hostile action so far - but you’re saying that that’s because we just haven’t gone far enough yet, into the regions that are less safe and less stable.

MARIKA: Sir, might I speak?

VITUS: Go ahead, Ms. Alenis.

MARIKA: Yes. Space _is_ scary. It’s full of terrors you wouldn’t even dream of. But it’s also filled with wonderful things, wonderful _people_. So, sure, you can shut yourselves out. Or you can come explore with us.

MARIKA pulls out her PADD and opens a folder; holo-images of _Hopper_ witnessing stellar marvels, of first contacts with all sorts of aliens. Her ever-present smile widens.

PREMIER: Even prettier words, Miss Alenismarika, and pretty pictures, too. But unconvincing.

VALARA: Look. The Galaxy’s a dangerous place, but it won’t be any less dangerous if you hide from it. The only way out is forward - is discovering what’s out there, good and bad. Talking with friendly people like us, sharing knowledge and letting us help keep you safe from the not-so-friendly people out there.

VALARA gestures to MARIKA.

VALARA: Marika’s people developed interstellar travel over 2,000 years ago. And for a while, they explored, traded, prospered. One day, they decided that was it - fwoop - and shut down all of it, just like you want to do. Stuck their heads in the sand. And then another group of aliens went and invaded and occupied their homeworld for fifty years.

MARIKA glares at VALARA about her very, _very_ simplistic take on Bajoran history.

VITUS: Ultimately, it’s up to you what to do. But at least, I hope you would be willing to tell us who you sold thalaron generators to.

The PREMIER gestures with her rear-most limbs to one of the other Nerenneren, this one inky black. He steps forward.

INKY BLACK NERENNEREN: We haven’t traded thalaron generators very much. It’s taken us the better part of a decade to go from exploration to trade, and even then, most of our trade partners expressed concern about the dangers of the technology. But in the last year, we did get a buyer - a spacecraft calling itself the _Hawk-Bat_. We had assumed that the rest of the galaxy had just caught up to us on thalaron safety, but you think that they mean to use it as a weapon?

VITUS: Unfortunately, yes.

VALARA: Did you at least get a good deal?

Cut to Bridge, _Tranquility_. LANARI is at the captain’s station, playing Tellarite neo-prog-metal music loudly. She almost misses the notification of an incoming message from USS _Hopper_. LANARI cuts the music, then taps the comm panel.

LANARI (loudly): “Captain Taggart to the bridge, please.”

Cut to dimly-lit cargo bay, where TAGGART and MEDVEDEVA have just woken up. T’VEL is lying awake, softly crying.

TAGGART: Commander, are you alright?

T’VEL looks up.

T’VEL: I am fine. You do not need to be concerned.

TAGGART: You don’t look fine.

T’VEL: I _am_. Please go.

Cut back to bridge, TAGGART, in uniform, has arrived.

TAGGART: What is it?

LANARI: Wanted to let you know you got a message from the _Hopper_.

TAGGART: Couldn’t you have just forwarded it to my PADD?

LANARI: Sure could.

LANARI does just that, and TAGGART’S PADD beeps. The Intelligence captain snorts, then reads the message.

TAGGART: Miss Lanari, you ever hear of a ship called the _Hawk-Bat_?

LANARI: Can’t say I have, no.

TAGGART: Well, you’re going to. Change course to make for Moridurium. It’s _Hawk-Bat’s_ next port call, according to her latest logs.

LANARI: Well, you’re the contractee.

LANARI changes course.

Cut back to SALMA and QORDILYA on the courier-Peregrine. SALMA is doing pushups on the floor of the Peregrine; QORDILYA is watching, bemused, as she snacks on a bag of nuts.

QORDILYA: _Really_?

SALMA: Ugh, you made me lose count.

QORDILYA: What does it matter?

SALMA: I’ve got a _regimen_, and I want to stick to it, bro.

QORDILYA: Does it improve your reflexes as a pilot or something?

SALMA: Not really. It’s mostly just about having a rockin’ bod, yo.

QORDILYA shrugs, then, having finished her nuts, pulls a PADD out from under her seat.

SALMA switches to doing squats. After a while, she pauses.

SALMA: Whatcha reading?

QORDILYA: Scientific article about implications of a weakless universe on subspace.

SALMA: ‘Weakless’? Sounds like I’d like it there.

QORDILYA: As long as you were fine without oxygen, or warp travel.

SALMA: Oh?

QORDILYA: ‘Weakless’ means ‘universe without the weak nuclear force’ -

SALMA: Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m not stupid. But I thought you were a xenobotanist, not an astrophysicist.

QORDILYA: Oh, I dabble in astrophysics too.

SALMA: Oh, like how I’m a pilot, and I ‘dabble’ in bodybuilding, too?

QORDILYA: Maybe not that much dabbling.

A light flashes on the console. QORDILYA taps it, and reviews the message that pops up.

QORDILYA: Huh. Taggart’s changing the rendezvous point again.

SALMA frowns, returns to her seat, and taps at the console.

SALMA: Two more days with me.

QORDILYA: Huh, and I was just starting to like you.

Cut to Tranquility mess hall, where T’VEL and ARRIC are washing dishes, and talking as they go. Only T’VEL’S name is on the rotation for cleaning dishes on this day.

ARRIC: Well ... Arric is, indeed, a rare name for a Cardassian my age. That’s because it dates way back, to before Unification. I think there’s an Arric in _Krilla_, but certainly not in any of the repetitive epics - wait, you’ve read _Krilla_, right? If you haven’t, you should.

T’VEL: Yes, Cardassian literature was part of our comparative literature classes at the Academy. I found _The Many Loves of Krilla_ ... frustrating to read.

ARRIC: Too much emotion?

T’VEL: I presume you are in fact aware that Vulcanoids do have emotions, as you have one on your crew. So I do not need to remind you that I am not unfamiliar with the concept of emotionality. No, I simply found I could not identify with any of the characters.

ARRIC: Not a one? Three generations of Krilla women, all leading very different lives, and none of them spoke to you?

T’VEL: Yes.

ARRIC: Huh. Not even Nerisi, the scientist?

T’VEL: I do not recall that character.

ARRIC: Oh, she must’ve been regularized out in the version you read - right, the whole Oralian temple thing she had going on. I’ve got a postwar, unregularized version of _Krilla_, if you want to try it again?

T’VEL: Perhaps. But anyway, how does one get such an old name?

ARRIC: It was a name passed down on my mother’s side, every few generations. My father got to name my older sister after his grand-aunt, and my mother got to name me after her great-grandfather.

T’VEL: Might I ask where your older sister is now?

ARRIC: She’d moved to Lakarian City, before the war. She didn’t make it out.

T’VEL: I am sorry to hear that.

ARRIC: What about you? How does one come to be named T’Vel?

T’VEL: T’Vel means ‘simple, uncomplicated lady’. My parents chose it. I do not know why. I find that the name does not suit me.

ARRIC: Oh, do you want to be seen as a woman of mystery? Dislike the idea of being ‘simple’?

T’VEL frowns.

T’VEL: That is not the case. There is much value in simplicity.

ARRIC: And yet you still dislike T’Vel. Well, not that it means anything, but I think it’s a fine name.

T’VEL: My feelings regarding my name remain unchanged.

ARRIC: Then why not change it?

T’VEL: To what?

ARRIC shrugs. LANARI enters.

LANARI: So that’s where you wandered off to, captain.

ARRIC: Just thought I’d help our guest out; she’s not exactly used to washing dishes.

T’VEL briefly looks annoyed, but shrugs it off.

LANARI: Sure. Whatever. Wanted to update you on ETA to Taggart’s latest destination - it’s now just 177 metrics.

T’VEL: Just under three hours. This ship is making good time.

Cut to SALMA and QORDILYA on the courier-Peregrine, deep in conversation.

QORDILYA: She _still_ wants me to be a “Real Klingon Warrior”. That’s just not who I am.

SALMA: I know exactly what you mean. It’s... people like your mom and mine, they think they know what’s best for us. They try to mold us into them. In my mom’s case, _literally_.

QORDILYA: How literally?

SALMA: Bro, I’m talking genetic augmentation. Not the bod - that’s all me. But, like, all sorts of other stuff. The shape of my face, the color of my hair, my eyes - and some things I’m pretty sure were just some quack geneticist tweaking me for shits and giggles. Pretty sure there’s no ‘gene for financial acumen’, for one.

QORDILYA: I’m sorry to hear that.

SALMA: It’s not _all_ bad... but, like, I had to get a special _waiver_ from Starfleet Medical, just to even apply for the Academy.

QORDILYA: Oh Kahless, the fucking _Ah-cad-emy_.

SALMA: Tell me about it. People made so many shitty assumptions about me.

QORDILYA: Me too. “Yo, arm-wrestle?” “Yo, when you gonna try out for the boxing team?” “Yo, wanna spar?” And those were the good ones. Can’t a girl just study xenobotany in peace?

SALMA: How’d you get into that, anyway?

QORDILYA: I - it’s stupid.

SALMA: C’mon, dish.

QORDILYA: Fine. It’s really stupid, though.

SALMA: Look, I got into piloting because I used to love holo flight sims as a kid, so you’ve got no monopoly on stupid here.

QORDILYA: There was this - this cadet. He was cute, and, I, uh... I had a crush on him, and he was going for xenobotany, so. It’s _really_ stupid.

SALMA giggles.

SALMA: What happened with him?

QORDILYA: He got bored of it, switched into astrophysics track. I didn’t, and here I am. I think he’s on a _Nova_ now?

SALMA: No, no, _with_ him.

QORDILYA: Nothing. I’m not sure he even noticed me.

SALMA: Bro, you _gotta_ make the first move!

A red light flashes on SALMA’S console; she taps the console a few times, and the ship emerges from warp ... into a near-empty patch of the Blood Gate Nebula.

SALMA: Huh, we’re here. Wherever ‘here’ is.

_Tranquility_ decloaks. A comm chime sounds in the Peregrine.

TAGGART (v/o): “Welcome to _Tranquility_, Lieutenant qorDIlya’.”

QORDILYA: “And Lieutenant Ye Holena.”

TAGGART (v/o): “Oh, we’re keeping the Peregrine?”

SALMA: “Yep, Captain says you need more protection out here.”

We watch the Peregrine dock, and then _Tranquility_ re-cloaks, with the Peregrine also cloaked.

***

Open on _Tranquility_ cargo bay, a couple days later. QORDILYA has set up analysis equipment in one corner, while SALMA and KAIPO are chatting in another; in classic pilot style, they’re resorting to using their hands as stand-ins for their spacecraft.

PRIETA enters the cargo bay, and walks over towards her husband.

KAIPO: Just like that?

SALMA: Just like that.

KAIPO: Well hell, when you put it that way... I’d be up for it if you are.

SALMA: Sure am, bro.

PRIETA (teasingly): Get a room, you two!

KAIPO: I mean, we _literally_ were just talking about doing a checkflight in Salma’s Peregrine, so, yeah, I guess?

PRIETA looks embarrassed.

KAIPO (teasingly): Do I need your _permission_ to fly, dear?

PRIETA is even more flustered and embarrassed, and she runs off, nearly running into a confused TAGGART. The Starfleet captain brushes this off and walks over to QORDILYA.

TAGGART: Lieutenant, any progress?

QORDILYA: It’s slow going, ma’am. There are a wide range of possible -- wait. That’s familiar.

The Klingon taps at her PADD, then gestures to move data from the PADD to her analyzer, then nods. And again. And again.

QORDILYA: Pompara. Ixus. Khitomer. Unefra. Solitude. Devoras. And now Ocutis.

TAGGART looks lost.

QORDILYA: Right, sorry, that’s not in any particular order. What it is, however, is a list of worlds that some time in the past 50 years have experienced recorded patterns of crop failures that resemble the ones you found on Ocutis. Obviously, the exact effects vary by crop, but all affected crops are grains of some sort, and all experience abnormal growths detrimental to crop survival. I'm not sure what the pattern is, but there's something there.

TAGGART: Well, all represent worlds that were thorns in the side of the Tal Shiar. Pompara and Ixus are both participants in the Union Fleet. Khitomer, of course, was a world contested with the Klingons. Unefra is on the Cardassian side of the border with the old RSE. Solitude is a Vulcan world near the old Neutral Zone, and has become a supply point for food aid into Romulan space. And Devoras was a historically restive part of the Empire.

QORDILYA: Ah. Of course. Well, then, it is my belief, ma’am, that Ocutis was struck by a Tal Shiar bioweapon targeting its crop production.

TAGGART: Lieutenant, I'd like you to remain here, both to confirm this hypothesis and to continue analysis of the samples we've collected, so that we can develop a better understanding of the bioweapon, and, potentially, a treatment for affected plants. Unless you think you could keep the samples viable in the Peregrine?

QORDILYA: No, ma'am - the samples would be difficult to keep viable in a courier ship, and I do not wish to interrupt my work.

TAGGART: Well, then. Thank you, Lieutenant.

TAGGART walks over to TALIS’S quarters; the camera continues on, however, into the Miran family quarters. ZISFIR is in her corner, listening to music on one of her PADDs while tapping on another; CRETEKA, wearing [a grey dress](https://i.imgur.com/gndNdas.jpg), is leaning back in her chair, while T’VEL stands stiffly next to her, looking at holo-displays emitted by a modern PADD of CRETEKA’S.

CRETEKA: So, you coming on over to the side of letting your emotions free?

T’VEL greens slightly.

T’VEL: No, I cannot. But I can acknowledge that there is a certain aesthetic quality to your fashions that I ... admire?

CRETEKA: You interested? I’m something of a self-taught tailor.

T’VEL: Yes, this would interest me.

CRETEKA sits up.

CRETEKA: This is, like, sort of my portfolio. Any patterns of particular interest?

T’VEL pages through the holo-display, pointing out several, all some flavor of unisex fashions. CRETEKA nods, then suggests [one more](https://i.imgur.com/PKOpJII.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/PKOpJII.jpg) look.

T’VEL: Interesting.

CRETEKA: It’d look great on you. I’m sure of it.

T’VEL: Very well. So, now you take my measurements?

CRETEKA nods.

T’VEL is taking off the uniform top when PRIETA enters; the Cardassian instantly looks distraught.

PRIETA: Oh State’s sake, you _too_?

T’VEL: I do not understand. Are many other people getting fitted for clothing?

PRIETA: You’re - but - Desci, be honest, were you flirting with her? Was she flirting with you?

T’VEL frowns briefly.

T’VEL: Ah, a misunderstanding. Vulcans do not flirt.

CRETEKA: Sorry about this, she’s just a little on edge about this whole thing with her husband.

ZISFIR turns up the volume on her music. She does _not_ need to hear this.

PRIETA: I am not - it’s fine if - I don’t - he’s not - ugh.

CRETEKA (teasing): You’re just jealous Salma isn’t flirting with _you_, aren’t you, sweetie?

PRIETA: No support.

CRETEKA: I’m sorry, I have a _customer_.

***

Establishing shot of _Tranquility_ in orbit above a planet. Zoom into _Tranquility’s_ tiny transporter room, then pan down the corridor to meet SALMA, QORDILYA, MEDVEDEVA, ARRIC, and a lanky teenage Romulan woman carrying a pack, heading into the cargo bay. They are met by TAGGART and LANARI once they get inside.

TAGGART: Who is this?

SALMA: This is Miss Xia Corvan. She’s -

TAGGART: Lieutenant. I thought the idea was to get in, grab as much information as we can about the _Hawk-Bat’s_ dealings here, and leave. Not, “and pick up someone along the way.”

QORDILYA: I was responsible, ma’am. She’s from the _Hawk-Bat_. Says they kicked her off because she got in a fight with the pilot, and so he made it look like she was stealing from them, and because he had seniority they believed him.

ARRIC: Hate to say it, but it’s not an uncommon story. Never on _Tranquility_, of course, but you hear about this shit from time to time portside.

TAGGART: So, Ms. Corvan. How old are you?

CORVAN: 17, Miss.

TAGGART: How long were you working on the _Hawk-Bat_?

CORVAN: Just over a year, Miss.

TAGGART: So, started at sixteen? Seems young.

ARRIC: About how old Prieta was when she started with _Tranquility_.

TAGGART: Fair enough.

ARRIC: What’d you do on the _Hawk-Bat_?

CORVAN: Bit of everything, sir, you know how it is. Lot of mechanic work. Why do you ask, sir?

LANARI (whispered): Really, Arric?

ARRIC (whispered): _Jil_.

LANARI scowls.

ARRIC (whispered): We’ve got 62 days left with Miran this year, and then we’re gonna need another mechanic for the next 277. _Hawk-Bat’s_ a YT-458; didn’t you use parts from a YT-350 just to build this ship? And you heard her story. What are we gonna do, just drop her off at the next port, where they’ll have just heard from _Hawk-Bat_ that she’s a thief?

LANARI sighs. She knows she’s not going to win on this one.

LANARI (whispered): If, and only if, the crew agrees to hire her, then fine. Quarter-pay to start.

ARRIC (whispered): Half, take half of it from my salary.

LANARI (whispered): Half, and it all comes out of your salary.

ARRIC (whispered): Done.

LANARI (whispered): You soft-hearted idiot.

ARRIC: Well, if you’re looking for a ship that’ll take you on... that might be us.

CORVAN: Really, sir?

ARRIC nods.

CORVAN: You won’t regret it, sir. I promise you won’t regret it.

Fade out.


	3. Season 1, episode 3: The Assassin Child

Fade in.

Open, a week later, on the mess. The cooking rotation shows that today is QORDILYA’S turn; the cleaning rotation now includes CORVAN’S name, alongside the various Starfleeters.

CORVAN is squeezed in between SHEARI and KAIPO (who is busy talking with the Orion next to him). The newest (provisional) crewmember aboard _Tranquility_ is not all that hungry, at least not for Klingon fare - even if this is supposedly ‘Klingon-Human fusion’ cuisine. At least it’s given her the amusing sight of T’VEL puzzling over how to eat this ‘injera’ stuff without any utensils and without staining the Vulcan’s gloves.

SHEARI: Not a fan?

CORVAN: Not really. Why does this ship never serve plain, simple Romulan food? 

SHEARI: This is my third trip on _Tranquility_. Trust me, there’s nothing plain or simple about her.

CORVAN chuckles.

SHEARI: That said, I’m with you on this one. I’ll talk with Zisfir, see if she can get you onto the cooking rotation for next week.

CORVAN: Thanks. So, third time on this ship? Why’d you keep coming back? From your accent, I’m sure you’re more used to ...

SHEARI: Higher standards?

SHEARI laughs.

SHEARI: Maybe, but they wouldn’t have this crew. They’re weird, but they’re fun, too.

ZISFIR: We aren’t _weird_, Velal. We’re _quirky_.

CORVAN smiles.

SALMA glances at her fellow Starfleet officers, then clears her throat. It’s time.

SALMA: Captain Laiban, on behalf of my fellow officers, I would like to formally challenge you all to a _Space Jam_.

ARRIC: A what?

CRETEKA: Basketball, right?

SALMA nods.

LANARI: You’re on.

Cut to _Tranquility’s_ cargo bay, an hour later. A basketball hoop’s been set up at one end; at QORDILYA’S insistence, a net’s been set up to protect her analysis computer, all the way at the other end. Space-tape’s been used to mark out a three-point arc and a foul line.

The game is not going well for the _Tranquility_ team, even with ZISFIR and SHEARI rooting for them on the sidelines. LANARI has the ball at the top of the key. The Starfleeters are playing man-to-man, and MEDVEDEVA is covering her; she’s learned to respect the short human’s skills as a defender. She looks to the left corner, where PRIETA’S been doing good work from the three-point line, keeping them _vaguely_ in contention - but the Starfleeters shifted to put SALMA on her, and that _really_ does not look like a good matchup. She looks to the low post, where KAJYN is being covered by TAGGART; no go there. She looks over to the right short corner, where CRETEKA is being covered by T’VEL; that might be a possibility, now that SALMA’S not covering her. And then there’s the new kid, CORVAN, on the wing, covered now by QORDILYA. Sure, why not.

LANARI passes to CORVAN. CORVAN squares up, then blows past QORDILYA, not even needing the screen the Cardassian was planning to set. She could take an easy midrange shot, but that won’t do - she wants to change the tone of the game. So she drives for the basket. TAGGART shifts off KAJYN to defend the hoop, but CORVAN presses on anyway, determined to get a shot in over the taller woman.

CRETEKA is wide open, and shouting for the ball, T’VEL’s shifted to cover KAJYN, a matchup that definitely favors the Reman... but no - she’s gotta do this herself. CORVAN goes for the dunk -

And TAGGART swats the ball away.

The game doesn’t go much better for the home team after that.

After it’s over, SHEARI goes over to talk to CORVAN.

CORVAN: Sorry to let you down.

SHEARI: You played hard. And, like, they had the tallest gal on the court, so.

CORVAN: I shouldn’t have tried that dunk - I got too caught up in the moment. I thought that, like, I _had_ to beat her.

SHEARI: Hey. In that moment, I really thought you were gonna make it. 

CORVAN smiles. 

Cut to a shot of _Tranquility’s_ bridge at ship’s night, occupied only by LANARI, who is blasting more Tellarite prog-metal behind a locked door. Pan through the door, briefly poking inside the captain’s quarters on the left, where ARRIC is bleary-eyed, reading up on Vulcan culture on his terminal. Then back down the corridor, passing KAIPO and SALMA as they quietly sneak over to the docking port, poking into KAJYN’s tiny quarters, where the Reman is fast asleep, then taking a look into the Miran family quarters. PRIETA is half-awake, a snoozing CRETEKA curled up beside her. The camera pans into the primary guest quarters. The room is dark. TALIS is asleep, SHEARI dozing, a visiting ZISFIR half-asleep... CORVAN is sorting through her pack for ... something. She pockets it and starts out of the room. Pan almost all the way out along with her when:

ZISFIR (whispered): Why are you up?

CORVAN (whispered): Don’t worry about it.

ZISFIR (whispered): Where are you going?

CORVAN (whispered): Don’t worry about it!

ZISFIR (whispered): Can I come with you?

CORVAN (whispered): No. Go back to sleep, kid.

ZISFIR pretends to go back to sleep, but just as CORVAN leaves, she slides a PADD in the way of the doors, so that they won’t close fully, and then she gets up, quietly, and tiptoes out of the room, turns to follow in the direction CORVAN had gone... and then screams. The camera pans briefly down the corridor, where for a second before turning away CORVAN appears to be planting some sort of device, then follows ZISFIR as she runs to her family’s quarters. The door appears to be locked? ZISFIR pounds on the door chime.

ZISFIR: WAKE UP!

Footsteps are audible. CORVAN’S footsteps. Why won’t the door open? ZISFIR keeps shouting, but no one is answering. The footsteps are getting closer and closer and then there’s the sound of a sword being drawn and then -

The sound of steel on steel. The camera turns with ZISFIR, to reveal SHEARI standing between her and CORVAN, sword in hand, struggling to block the other Romulan’s own sword.

CORVAN: Get out of my way, child.

Her voice sounds colder.

SHEARI: Never!

CORVAN takes one hand off her sword-grip; SHEARI decides now is the time to attack - only to fold over as the other Romulan punches her in the gut and sends a jolt of electricity into SHEARI, who collapses, unconscious. 

CORVAN smiles, then steps forward, ZISFIR scrabbling back -

The door to the Miran family quarters falls open, and PRIETA steps into the corridor, a wrench in hand. ZISFIR runs inside.

PRIETA: STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!

CORVAN: Fine. I’ll deal with you the hard way.

CORVAN slashes at PRIETA, who struggles to block with her wrench. The younger woman then feints an attack towards PRIETA’S throat, which the Cardassian moves to defend herself against, leaving her abdomen exposed to CORVAN’S blade.

PRIETA falls back, bleeding badly.

CORVAN: Good enough. 

The killer teenager turns back down the corridor, and the camera follows, briefly passing CRETEKA trying to stem the bleeding and PRIETA gasping something out. CORVAN strides down towards the secondary guest quarters and the cargo bay, folding up her sword and drawing a disruptor.

ARRIC (voiceover): What the -

CORVAN turns and fires a snap shot, and the captain cries out in pain. The Romulan then turns back, striding confidently towards secondary guest quarters, opening the doors, firing once, twice.

There are no screams this time.

The assassin continues on, briefly looking at the timer on the device she set. The camera follows as CORVAN approaches the cargo bay door, then passes through as she opens it. The cargo bay is dark, dimly lit.

CORVAN casually shoots at QORDILYA’S analytics computer. It shouldn’t matter, especially with the Klingon already dead back in secondary guest quarters, but it will look good in her report. She searches the room for where TAGGART should be sleeping...

And gets a table slammed hard into her side, followed up by an enraged Klingon xenobotanist trying to pin her to the floor. CORVAN tries to zap her, but to no effect - QORDILYA’S uniform is insulated. The camera pans back, showing QORDILYA’S hiding place beneath her desk, showing MEDVEDEVA dashing for the device, toolkit in hand, showing TAGGART standing behind the cover of a pillar, trying to find a clear shot, showing MEDVEDEVA scanning the device with a tricorder, then opening her toolkit ...

QORDILYA cries out in pain, and we zoom back in on the xenobotanist and the assassin. CORVAN pushes the Klingon off of her, revealing a knife in QORDILYA’S chest.

TAGGART takes the shot, firing with both her phasers; CORVAN’s personal shield flares up to deflect the beams. The assassin picks up her dropped disruptor and gets back to her feet.

CORVAN turns towards MEDVEDEVA, levels her disruptor... 

And falls, stabbed in the leg with the knife she’d used on the Klingon. Her shot goes low, but still hits the engineer’s toolkit.

CORVAN laughs as the timer ticks down, as she starts to feel the telltale tingle of the transporter beam... and then it stops.

Zoom out. 

First, see the device, timer stopped at two seconds, an alien multitool jammed in the works. See PRIETA, slumped over behind it. Then zoom out further, outside the hull. See debris from a Romulan shuttlecraft, and the Peregrine that destroyed it.

And then zoom back in tight on the assassin’s point of view, seeing her lift her disruptor, set it to full power, and fire at the pillar TAGGART is standing behind, quickly eating through the metal...

And then our view shifts and we’re looking up at the ceiling. The last thing we see before the screen goes dark is T’VEL... and at the far corner of the cargo bay, the light from the bathroom.

***

Open on medbay aboard _Tranquility_ \- a small, overcrowded room, not much bigger than an autodoc. Dr. CRETEKA has had a very busy evening. She’s monitoring all five patients: PRIETA, SHEARI, ARRIC, QORDILYA, and (reluctantly) CORVAN. T’VEL is standing next to ARRIC’S bed, looking impassive, but resting a gloved hand on his forehead. TAGGART is also hanging around, glaring at CORVAN as if it’d force the would-be assassin to talk. KAIPO has just entered, a steaming mug of raktajino in hand, which he sets down on a console. He squeezes in beside his wife’s bed.

KAIPO: It’s for you, doc. How’s she holding up?

CRETEKA: Thanks. 

CRETEKA sets down her tricorder and quickly drinks up half the mug.

CRETEKA: Pri’s stable. Still going to need to monitor her for the next few days, make sure there’s no further complications, but she’s going to make it.

KAIPO sighs in relief. He gently kisses his sleeping wife. CORVAN mutters something under her breath.

CRETEKA: We’re _all_ going to make it.

The doctor turns towards her least-favorite patient, scowling. It’s an odd look on her.

CRETEKA: Even _you_, asshole. I treated you. Had to treat you first, because of your fucking shield generator giving you a severe case of radiation poisoning. I wonder if your buddies told you about that little complication. 

CORVAN: Beats _dying_. How’d your captain make out?

From where CORVAN is tied down, she can’t see ARRIC.

ARRIC (weakly): Alive. If you’re gonna shoot someone, shoot them proper.

CORVAN: Just needed to get you out of the way long enough to blow you all up.

TAGGART: Well, you fucked that up. 

CORVAN: You got lucky.

Cut to SHEARI walking down the corridor towards the _Tranquility_ cargo bay, a few days later. We hear the sound of something hitting something else repeatedly as she and the camera approach the door.

The door opens, and we see CORVAN, hands and feet bound, seated near where QORDILYA’S computer sat before she’d blown it up. TAGGART is sitting across from her, waiting, bouncing a ball off the wall. SALMA is watching, phaser trained on the would-be assassin; TALIS watches too, impassive. 

CORVAN: What, you’re going to bore me to death?

TAGGART’S PADD buzzes. She palms the ball, reads her PADD, nods, then puts it down on the table. She turns the PADD to face CORVAN, and resumes bouncing the ball.

TAGGART: Leval Hrient, born 2387, Venike, Romulus. Parents were Alidar and Tanis Hrient. Grew up on the family estate on Nova Roma, Rator III. Attended Elgrin Academy, Rator III, 2392-2397. Denounced her parents for treason against the Imperial Romulan State, 2395, leading to their execution and the expropriation of most of her family’s assets to be held in trust by the Imperial Romulan State. Left Rator III with her uncle Cenuik Hrient, 2397, transferring to Dovauma Academy on Scipine, a suspected feeder school for the Tal Shiar. Cenuik arrested 2398 on corruption charges. Leval is believed to have been recruited to the Tal Shiar in 2399, and is suspected of involvement in the assassinations of Federation nanotechnologist Alenna N’Gir, Reman labor leader Vexikarix, and Imperial Romulan Senator Vompey, among others.

CORVAN: Why should I care?

TAGGART palms her ball, then swipes down on her PADD.

TAGGART: Starfleet Intelligence suspects Tal Shiar involvement in the events surrounding Leval’s denunciation of her parents, in order to expropriate Hrient family estates for their own purposes.

CORVAN: LIES!

TAGGART: Do you know why you were tasked with killing us?

CORVAN: You’re an enemy of the Romulan state.

TAGGART swipes right on her PADD, and holo-images pop up - diseased crops on Ocutis and Pompara. 

TAGGART swipes right again, and an audio file plays: a brief clip from Tyrrix Station as its crew dies to thalaron radiation. Images taken on Tyrrix Station and on the surface pop up.

TAGGART: This is just what we found in the last 30 days - a bioweapon targeting the agriworlds that literally feed Romulans, and a Romulan colony destroyed by thalaron radiation. You joined the Tal Shiar to protect the Romulan people, and this is what they have you protecting instead.

CORVAN shakes her head.

TAGGART: They used you. They molded you for years and used you. And this is what they are using you for. 

CORVAN: What do you want from me?!

TAGGART: I want you to help us end this.

TALIS: The Tal’Shiar are butchers, child, they always have been. If you really want to help the Romulan people, help us.

***

Guest quarters, _Tranquility_, ship’s night. SHEARI is sleeping. TAGGART is sitting at a terminal, glaring at the face of COMMODORE MANDA KORROK, her Saurian commanding officer. TALIS stands off to the side, out of view.

KORROK: “Captain, I need hard evidence. I trust you, but the Council doesn’t know you. All they have to connect Chirex with the Tal Shiar is the word of this teenager.”

TAGGART: “Sir, you clearly _don’t_ trust me. I nearly _died_ out here, you understand that? I nearly _died_ for this information, and you’re not even listening -”

KORROK: “Captain. _You’re_ not listening. I understand that you’re upset. But if we’re going to blow up what looks to be the best chance for peace in years, you’re going to need to give me more than this.”

TAGGART: “You’re just going to let this happen? You’re not even going to tell Jarok before she signs a truce with him?”

KORROK: “What can I tell her? Captain, she’s going to ask for evidence, and what you’ve given me isn’t enough. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

KORROK ends the connection.

TAGGART: Fuck. _FUCK!_

TALIS: They let you use that kind of language in the Fleet?

TAGGART: Not the time. Why won’t he listen?

TALIS: He hasn’t asked you to _stop_ investigating this lead. You still have the _Hawk-Bat_...

TAGGART: The _Hawk-Bat_ was a fucking trap.

TALIS: Not until they turned it into one. We’ve been looking at it all wrong. Stop chasing the _Hawk-Bat_ specifically, start chasing down who owns the _Hawk-Bat_, what other ships they own, what they’ve been hauling, where they’re going...

TAGGART: Build a web to draw out the spider.

TALIS: Yeah, sure. That.

Cut to _Tranquility_ cargo bay, the next day. CORVAN is sitting in a corner, hands still bound, quietly humming to herself. In the middle, MEDVEDEVA is grilling foil-wrapped beef (or tofu) and root vegetables over a modified plasma coil; while the food grills, she is tinkering with some spare parts and electronics. ZISFIR is watching the human, curious.

ZISFIR: Whatcha making?

MEDVEDEVA: Robots. Pretty basic little things - fetchbots and assistabots.

ZISFIR: Sister-bots? What about brother-bots?

MEDVEDEVA: No, assistabots. The fetchbots fetch tools I need, the assistabots hold things in place.

ZISFIR: Mom doesn’t need any assistabots!

MEDVEDEVA: Oh? Is that what she has you for?

ZISFIR smiles.

MEDVEDEVA: Actually, are you sure she didn’t build you out of spare parts? You've got so much energy I think maybe there's a fusion reactor tucked in there.

MEDVEDEVA pokes ZISFIR’S belly. ZISFIR laughs.

LANARI stomps into the cargo bay, then stomps on over to MEDVEDEVA.

LANARI: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

MEDVEDEVA: Grilling up the ship’s lunches. It’s perfectly safe - there’s no volatile gases or anything. Just nice ordinary plasma.

LANARI: That’s - ... that actually smells good.

MEDVEDEVA: Well, yeah.

LANARI: Huh. I still don’t think this is safe --

MEDVEDEVA: Hey, you’re the one who wasn’t running triple-redundant safeties on your power grid, so I’m not sure you should be the one to talk safety.

LANARI: -- but carry on. 

As LANARI walks out, SALMA (holding a phaser) and SHEARI enter, walking over towards CORVAN.

SALMA: You really don’t have to do this, bro.

SHEARI: I do. She needs a friend.

SALMA: She’s a spy, an assassin --

SHEARI: She’s also terribly lonely, I’m sure. I can’t imagine how hard it’d be, losing everyone in your family - worse yet, being responsible for it. 

SALMA: Just remember, I’ll be right here if you need me.

SHEARI nods.

SHEARI: I don’t think I will.

SALMA: Even though she tried to --

SHEARI: Yes.

SHEARI hears CORVAN humming, and picks up the tune herself as she takes a seat next to the other Romulan. CORVAN stops humming and looks over at the teenager.

CORVAN: Oh, it’s you.

SHEARI: Hey.

CORVAN: Why are you here?

SHEARI: I thought you could use some company.

***

Open on _Tranquility_ mess, early the next morning. CORVAN’S name has been crossed off the cleaning rotation, replaced by LANARI. It’s MEDVEDEVA’S turn on the cooking rotation, but she’s not here yet. TALIS and TAGGART are here, however, and are sitting at the table. TALIS has a small Romulan PADD that she’s taking notes on, while TAGGART, looking bleary-eyed, has a full coffee mug and a pile of PADDs in front of her.

TAGGART: So. Bad news: _Hawk-Bat_ is an independent contractor, at least officially. Good news: we can still get something meaningful from where and with who she’s contracted. 

TAGGART takes a long gulp from her coffee. 

TAGGART: From logs filed in the last 90 days, we’ve got, among others: A tritanium mine on Ginok Pah, operated by House Konjah - clients of House Duras, old allies of the Tal Shiar; a duranium mine on Terix II, operated by a Reman co-operative with ties to the old Imperial Romulan Miners’ Union; a precision spacesuit tailoring facility on Atraka, owned by General Chirex’s daughter-in-law; an industrial replicator complex on Moridurium, owned, indirectly, by a personal friend of Chirex; a manufacturer of high-grade sensors on Aniak, once part of the Hrient family trust; a computer assembly plant at Jarok’s Beacon, formerly owned directly by the Romulan Fleet; and an antimatter production facility on Alixros, once owned by the Jarok family until Alidar’s defection back in 2366, when it was expropriated and sold to ... Chirex’s mother.

TALIS: And what do you conclude from this?

TAGGART: Before I reveal that, something else - her flight plans don’t quite add up, given the warp factor she should be capable of making. We _know_ she’s faster than us, and yet she keeps arriving a day late here, a couple days late there.

TAGGART finishes her coffee. 

TAGGART: I believe Chirex is building something in secret. I want to know what, exactly, and where.

TALIS: The what is simple: A new _Scimitar_. Thus the tests of subsystems at Ixus and Tyrrix. The where ...

PRIETA walks in, holding her side, a pained look on her face. She slumps into a seat.

PRIETA: Couldn’t sleep. 

TAGGART: We know that information is on the _Hawk-Bat_ somewhere. But how do we get it?

TALIS: Raid them with the Peregrine?

TAGGART: We’re not pirates.

TALIS: It was just a thought. Hmm... this ship has a doctor, which is atypical for light freighters like the _Hawk-Bat_. Could we get them sick, ensure that we’re the first to respond to their distress call, and grab the information while we treat them?

TAGGART: That’s ... that’s literally biowarfare. I'd say that's even worse, but I'm worried about what you'd say to top that.

PRIETA: Uh, couldn’t you just plant a trojan in their computer?

TAGGART: Oh, and where would we get a hacker on this short notice?

PRIETA: Me.

Cut to the Miran family quarters, a few hours later. It’s still dim, and KAIPO is lying in bed, half-asleep, still in his pajamas. CRETEKA is pulling on a brown jacket over a white top and jeans.

CRETEKA: Still sleepy?

KAIPO grumbles.

CRETEKA: Hey, if you wanna miss breakfast, be my guest.

KAIPO grumbles again, but starts to get up. The door chimes.

CRETEKA: We’re up, sweetie - well, mostly up. Come in.

CRETEKA runs over to greet her Pri at the door, and the camera follows - only it’s not PRIETA who enters; it’s T’VEL, who looks quite tired.

T’VEL: I apologize. Am I intruding?

CRETEKA takes a moment to adjust, then shrugs.

CRETEKA: No, no, come in. How are you?

T’VEL: I am fine.

CRETEKA: You wanna see how your clothes are coming along?

T’VEL nods.

CRETEKA touches a panel on her table, and a section of the wall next to it opens up, revealing a mini-closet with a few pieces of half-finished clothing inside. The Romulan pulls out the silver jacket she’d shown T’VEL earlier, then slides out a mirror from the mini-closet and balances it against the wall. In the background, we hear KAIPO singing in the sonic shower.

CRETEKA: Go ahead, try it on!

T’VEL does so, and then looks in the mirror. The Vulcan smiles slightly.

CRETEKA: Oho, she likes it!

The Vulcan’s smile fades.

CRETEKA: Or not?

T’VEL: No, I do like it. I - I do not know if it suits me.

CRETEKA: Oh, it does. 

T’VEL: Might I ask a personal question, doctor?

CRETEKA: Go ahead! 

T’VEL: Your aesthetic tends towards outfits that are traditionally unisex or masculine, from what I understand. How did you develop this aesthetic?

CRETEKA: Well, part of that’s that Romulan fashion often tends to be fairly unisex, but I also just find it fits how I feel.

T’VEL: You feel male?

T’VEL seems to almost have a hopeful expression.

CRETEKA: Not exactly. But I like being myself, and fuck what other people think I should be, you know? 

T’VEL: I do not understand.

CRETEKA: It’s about being confident in your own skin.

T’VEL: That is something I have never felt.

T’VEL looks surprised at having blurted that out.

CRETEKA: _Oh_. I am so sorry to hear that.

CRETEKA moves to hug the Vulcan, but T’VEL is stiff and clearly does not seem to want that.

T’VEL: I apologize if I have caused any discomfort.

T’VEL runs out, still wearing the jacket.

CRETEKA: No, _I’m_ sorry - I didn’t realize this was - _fuck_!

KAIPO walks into view, dressed in his usual Hawaiian shirt & jeans.

KAIPO: What’s up with her?

CRETEKA: I don’t know, and I’m not sure they know, either.

***

Establishing shot of _Tranquility_, dirtside at a Klingon spaceport. The camera goes through the settlement, then out to the _Hawk-Bat_.

TALIS (v/o): The plan is simple, really. 

TAGGART (v/o): We know that _Hawk-Bat’s_ next stop is Beta Kornak, just over the border in Klingon space.

KAIPO (v/o): We can beat them there, if we push the engines. 

LANARI (v/o): The _Hawk-Bat_ will need maintenance - all those nebula gases they’ve ingested aren’t great for the engines on a YT-458.

SALMA (v/o): While the normal maintenance crew is busy working on our ship, we’ll send you over to the Hawk-Bat, disguised as a port maintenance worker.

We briefly cut away to the spaceport bar, where we see KAIPO and CRETEKA flirting with _Hawk-Bat_ crew (all wearing distinctive _Hawk-Bat_ patches).

CRETEKA (v/o): Kaipo and I will keep the crew ... distracted.

PRIETA (v/o): Not my favorite part of the plan.

KAIPO (v/o): But you know it’ll work, sweetie.

PRIETA (v/o): Of course I do. All you have to do is hook up this device to their computers, and I’ll do the rest.

The camera returns to the _Hawk-Bat_, circling around to the impulse engines.

MEDVEDEVA (v/o): I’ll be right here on the other end of your communicator if you need me.

And the camera stops, seeing QORDILYA, dressed in maintenance overalls, at work in the guts of the ship. The camera shifts back a bit, and we see a ROMULAN in a _Hawk-Bat_ uniform. He waits for a bit, then speaks:

ROMULAN: I would have thought you’d be done by now.

QORDILYA: Sorry, but this is taking longer than I expected. Call it twenty minutes more?

The Romulan looks puzzled.

ROMULAN: “Sorry”?

Realization dawns on QORDILYA’S face... and then she comes up with an idea. She sets down her toolkit and steps out onto the tarmac; the camera shifts to her perspective.

QORDILYA: Yeah, sorry that I have to work with this piece of junk you call a ship! Sorry that I’m doing a thorough job with her so that she’ll actually _fly_, when all she’s good for is hauling garbage!

ROMULAN: What did you say about my ship?

QORDILYA: Oh, did I say hauling garbage? I meant hauled away _as_ garbage!

ROMULAN: You fucking asked for it.

The ROMULAN hauls back to punch QORDILYA, and then -

Smash cut to Tranquility cargo bay. MEDVEDEVA, PRIETA (holding her side), and TAGGART are on the ramp; KAIPO, CRETEKA, and QORDILYA (sporting a few bruises, a limp, and a slight smile) walk up to join them. 

QORDILYA: Did it work?

PRIETA: The trojan’s in. Sorry that it took so long - their network security was a lot tougher than I’m used to.

MEDVEDEVA: What happened to you?

QORDILYA: A _Hawk-Bat_ crewer showed up early; we got in a fight.

TAGGART: Wait, what?

QORDILYA: You kept telling me to stall, so I stalled them.

TAGGART: Will this be a problem? What if they complain to management?

KAIPO: You’ve never dealt with a Klingon customer service department, I take it.

***

Open on the courier-Peregrine as it drops out of warp into what seems to be ordinary nebula space. SALMA and T’VEL are pilot & co-pilot.

SALMA: We’re here. 0.5 AU from the target coordinates.

T’VEL taps at the console.

T’VEL: Passive scanners are ready.

SALMA taps at the console.

SALMA: Going to one-eighth impulse power.

T’VEL nods.

SALMA: Burn complete. And now... we coast.

SALMA taps at the console again, and the Peregrine dims.

SALMA: Alright, bro. We’ve got 11 hours to kill, so, uh... do you lift?

Cut to LANARI’S quarters aboard _Tranquility_. LANARI and ARRIC are sitting on a couch, sharing a bottle of kanar; there’s a kotra table in the middle, but they’ve basically abandoned the game.

ARRIC: I’m worried about her. 

LANARI: You don’t trust the Lieutenant to keep her safe?

ARRIC: I - what if something goes wrong? We should’ve -

LANARI: You are being absurd. This is literally what the Peregrine was built for, as I understand it - deep recon missions, like what our Hidekis pulled off.

ARRIC: I - I wish I was out there with them.

LANARI: Doing what, exactly? Oh, let me guess - ‘keeping her safe’. How?

ARRIC: Making her _feel_ safe.

LANARI: And why do you care so much about how she feels? She clearly doesn’t care, herself -

ARRIC: _Jil_.

LANARI sighs.

ARRIC: She could die out there, and she wouldn’t know. I - I should’ve at least told her, before she left.

LANARI: And distracted her? Good thinking, there.

ARRIC glares at his old comrade.

LANARI: Look, you know I’m not good with this sort of thing. Sex is disgusting and romance makes people stupid, but you all are hedonistic idiots so you do that stuff anyway.

ARRIC: She deserves to know how I feel.

LANARI: When she gets back - when she’s done her job - tell her then, then, I guess.

ARRIC: But what if she doesn’t feel the same?

LANARI: That’s the risk you run. 

Cut to SALMA and T’VEL on the courier-Peregrine, deep in conversation. 

SALMA: Yeah, it definitely was a risk, cutting myself off. But it’s one I had to take.

T’VEL: I do not know that I would have taken the same risk.

SALMA: What, you think it would’ve been _logical_ for me to just follow meekly in my mother’s footsteps?

T’VEL: That is not what I meant to imply.

SALMA: Well, what did you mean? Because as is, you’re saying I’m wrong to be here -

T’VEL: You misunderstand. I do not know that I would have taken the same risk. You are a risk-taker by nature; I am not.

There is a hint of regret in T’VEL’S tone, one that SALMA picks up on.

SALMA: Hey. If there’s something you want to talk about, just know that what’s said in the Peregrine stays in the Peregrine. 

T’VEL: Perhaps. You promise not to disclose this to anyone?

SALMA: I swear to it, bro. 

T’VEL: Very well. I was married, once. On Vulcan, we have a tradition of arranging bond-mates; my family held to this tradition. When it came time to be wed, I ... found that I did not wish to proceed. There is, in fact, a traditional way to back out of such an engagement - the _kal-if-fee_, a ritual challenge. A fight to the death between my would-be husband and a challenger of my choosing. I did not wish to be _anyone’s_ woman, but at the same time, I did not wish to see Kerak dead. So, I did not issue the _kal-if-fee_, and instead we were wed. 

SALMA: That’s... that’s a hell of a thing. What happened?

T’VEL: The marriage did not last. We divorced.

SALMA: Wait, you could just fucking divorce? Then why couldn’t you have just backed out like -

T’VEL: Like logical people? I came from a very traditional family, and I felt much pressure to conform. To not disappoint them. As I said, I do not know if I can take the same risks as you.

SALMA: And yet here you are.

T’VEL: And yet here I am. But...

SALMA: But what?

T’VEL: I told you that I did not wish to be anyone’s woman. That remains true. And yet ... 

SALMA: And yet?

T’VEL: I have found Captain Laiban’s company agreeable.

SALMA: You like him.

T’VEL: _Very_ agreeable.

SALMA: Oh, you _like_ like him!

T’VEL: Perhaps. 

SALMA: Then why don’t you tell him that?

T’VEL: How can I ask someone to love me when I -

The timer on SALMA’S PADD ticks down to zero.

T’VEL: There is no need to discuss this matter further.

SALMA: We’ve still got time before we reach the _Tranquility_ -

T’VEL: Still.

SALMA: You sure? I’m not a counselor, but I did do a little cross-training back on the _Bellerophon_.

T’VEL: I have already said more than was necessary.

SALMA: If you say so...

SALMA shrugs. She touches the console, and the Peregrine goes to warp.

Cut to _Tranquility_ mess, the next day. It’s PRIETA’S day on the rotation; she’s made hasperat, and we see the burrito-like Bajoran food on people’s plates. The entire crew is crowded around the table.

T’VEL: Analysis of our sensor recordings shows the presence of a _Scimitar_, very close to completion, in a shipyard orbiting a brown dwarf at the coordinates identified from the _Hawk-Bat_. Imagery suggests that both a cloak and thalaron generators have been installed.

TALIS: If Chirex can complete his _Scimitar_, then he can go to any planet he wishes and wipe out all life - like he did at Tyrrix.

TAGGART: We have to stop him, here and now. I have been working with Commodore Korrok, and his squadron is moving for the shipyard, but they are scattered throughout the sector; it will take time to assemble the fleet. _Hopper_ is close, however. Further, we will need to nullify the Scimitar’s cloak. Fortunately, we do have the means to do this.

MEDVEDEVA projects an image of a Starfleet homing beacon - a backpack-shaped device.

TAGGART: Cadet Medvedeva has been in communication with Lieutenant Commander Alenis, back on the _Hopper_. Based on our readings from Ixus, we believe that three Type-5 homing beacons, with modifications, will be sufficient for us to be able to triangulate the cloak. Unfortunately, we cannot build them aboard the _Tranquility_ \- we lack the necessary resources.

T’VEL: The shipyard is protected by a tachyon detection grid, by intrinsic defenses, and by three guardships. The most recent delivery to the shipyard from the _Hawk-Bat_ appears to have been advanced shipboard FTL sensor systems, which would permit the _Scimitar_ to detect _Hopper_ inbound from five light years away. We have imaged these systems in the process of installation aboard the _Scimitar_.

TAGGART: The plan is to penetrate the tachyon detection grid in the _Tranquility_ and beam aboard a boarding team to disable the FTL sensors. We will be reinforced by boarding teams from the _Hopper_ upon their arrival, carrying the homing beacons. Due to the risks involved, this is a volunteer mission only. Are there any questions?

Silence.

TAGGART: Very well. I will be going on this mission; who else will join?

SALMA, MEDVEDEVA, T’VEL, ARRIC, QORDILYA, and PRIETA immediately raise their hands. CRETEKA pulls PRIETA’S hand down.

PRIETA: But -

CRETEKA: You’re not going. You’re not cleared to go. Same for you, qorDIlya’.

QORDILYA sighs and puts her hand down as well.

T’VEL: Arric, you do not have to go. This is our mission, not yours --

ARRIC: Given what we’ve learned, it’s my mission too. I can’t just stand by and watch --

LANARI and KAJYN reluctantly raise their hands.

LANARI: _Someone’s_ gotta keep you safe.

CORVAN starts to raise her hand.

TAGGART: No.

CORVAN: These assholes used me for years -

TAGGART: You’re still a child, even if much of your youth was stolen from you. I don’t send children into combat.

CORVAN: I’m not a kid. I was old enough to work on this ship, apparently -

ARRIC: That’s different. That’s a lot less risky than this is. And, no offense, kid, but I can’t say I trust you.

KAIPO: I can only beam so many of you over at a time anyway. Seven’s just about pushing the limit.

CORVAN: Fine.

TAGGART: Then we have a team.

Fade out


	4. Season 1, episode 4: Battle of the Scimitar

Fade in

Open on a shipyard orbiting a brown dwarf - a failed star. Zoom in on the shipyard, and a network of probes englobing the shipyard becomes visible - a tachyon detection grid. Zoom closer, and spot two people in black spacesuits drifting to one of the probes. They work carefully, hacking the probe so that it will always read as if it is receiving normal signals from adjoining probes.

Cut to transporter room, Tranquility. LANARI and MEDVEDEVA beam aboard, where they join SALMA, TAGGART, T’VEL, ARRIC, and KAJYN, also in spacesuits. They’ve all been painted over to the standard color scheme for this shipyard. It won’t hold up to lengthy scrutiny, but it should hold up long enough to get the team aboard.

LANARI presses the wall-mounted comm unit.

LANARI: “We’re ready for insertion.”

KAIPO (v/o): “Right. In we go.”

Cut back to exterior view of (cloaked) Tranquility as she passes through the grid and makes for the Scimitar-class in the yard. Follow Tranquility in, as she passes a Romulan guardship. Zoom out, and we see the guardship continuing on its patrol, rather than following the Tranquility. Then pan over to the brown dwarf, and zoom in on the opposite side of the dwarf from the shipyard, until we see a powered-down courier-Peregrine.

Cut to interior, courier-Peregrine. QORDILYA and CRETEKA are at the controls; TALIS, CORVAN, SHEARI, PRIETA, and ZISFIR are squeezed tight into the seats behind them.

ZISFIR: When will Dad be back?

PRIETA: Soon, Zii. I promise you.

QORDILYA: Well, not that soon - the faster he goes at impulse, the more likely it is that those guardships or their grid spots him, even through his cloak. So he’s going to be crawling in and crawling out -

CRETEKA: Lieutenant.

QORDILYA: But he will be back. Your father’s a good pilot. He’ll make it.

Cut back to an exterior shot of the Scimitar, then zoom in on a section of the port hull and through to the interior, where the seven infiltrators are moving, scanning with tricorders, searching for the FTL sensors.

MEDVEDEVA: I have it. This way, ma’am.

The group follows the cadet, until KAJYN motions for them to stop.

KAJYN: Two dockworkers in the corridor ahead. They’ll be moving on once they finish with installing a power converter, which shouldn’t be long.

TAGGART: Are they in line-of-sight of anyone?

KAJYN: I don’t think so, ma’am? If we wait another -

TAGGART steps into the corridor and we hear her stun the two.

TAGGART: Problem solved. Let’s go.

KAJYN: Or we could do that. Right, ma’am.

Cut to a corridor one deck below, cut off by a blast door. A pair of dockworkers and a uniformed crewmember are standing next to the mechanism, while two crewmembers struggle to lift the blast door manually and a dockworker lies with her leg crushed beneath the door, crying out in pain.

REMAN DOCKWORKER: “Yeah, we tried resetting the controls already - the damn thing’s still not moving.”

ROMULAN TECH SUPPORT (v/o): “Powercycle the mechanism; it should default to -”

REMAN DOCKWORKER: “Well, it didn’t the last two times we tried that!”

A CREWMEMBER pulls out her disruptor, turns the power on full. A Romulan dockworker puts his hand on her disruptor.

ROMULAN DOCKWORKER: Hey, you can’t just blow this up! 

CREWER: On max power?

ROMULAN DOCKWORKER: I doubt it. And you need this fucking blast door intact. What happens if there’s an explosion - do you want plasma leaking through --

CREWER: Yeah, well I need to get through this door --

The Reman dockworker is staring suspiciously at the access point for an engineering crawlspace. 

TECH SUPPORT (v/o): “Are you still there?”

The Reman dockworker walks over, holding out a tricorder. He opens the access point - and is hit by a stun blast.

ROMULAN DOCKWORKER: What the fuck?

The CREWER immediately taps her communicator; a stun grenade drops out of the access point.

CREWER: “INTRUDER ALERT --”

The stun grenade goes off with a flash of light; when the flash dies down, we see the infiltrators clambering out of the crawlspace into the corridor.

MEDVEDEVA runs over to examine the mechanism, and after a few seconds, her fetchbots bring her tools and she fixes it. The blast door opens; TAGGART and T’VEL quickly stun the Romulans on the other side, and SALMA drags the injured Romulan dockworker out from under the blast door.

The infiltrators cross through the corridor, and the camera follows. MEDVEDEVA points to a piece of complex machinery, jutting into the corridor.

MEDVEDEVA: There it is, ma’am. 

TAGGART plants CORVAN’S device into the works, while T’VEL and SALMA drag stunned Romulans to the other side of the blast door. MEDVEDEVA then closes the blast door behind them, and the team heads further down the corridor, closing another blast door behind them just before we hear a muffled explosion.

ARRIC: Mission accomplished.

TAGGART frowns.

TAGGART: They know we’re aboard. We need to get moving.

Exterior shot of USS Hopper emerging from warp. Shuttlecraft, runabouts, and Peregrines launch from her shuttlebays and form up into squadrons.

Cut to bridge, USS Hopper. The bridge team includes VITUS, VALARA, and OTHER BRIDGE OFFICERS.

VALARA: Well, that sure is a Scimitar, and this one sure does have thalaron radiation emitters.

VITUS: Very good. All craft, let’s make it happen.

VALARA (whispered): “Very good”, he says. We’re all going to die from thalaron radiation, aren’t we?

Cut to Tranquility docked with the Peregrine, then cut to Tranquility bridge. KAIPO is at the pilot’s station. PRIETA, CRETEKA, QORDILYA, and ZISFIR enter the bridge. ZISFIR gives KAIPO a hug.

ZISFIR: I’m so glad you’re back!

KAIPO: It’s not over yet, but I guess our part is.

QORDILYA sighs.

KAIPO: Hm?

QORDILYA: There is something I could do...

Cut to another corridor of the Scimitar. TAGGART, T’VEL and MEDVEDEVA are ahead of the rest of the group, scanning to check if the coast is clear; SALMA is applying a field dressing to ARRIC’S leg, while LANARI and KAJYN keep an eye on the corridor behind them.

ARRIC: It was a lucky shot, that’s all.

LANARI: Yes, lucky indeed. You were careless, sir, and it could’ve gotten you killed.

Suddenly, a blast door starts to close between the group - and ARRIC is right in the way. SALMA, muscles straining, holds the blast door open just long enough for ARRIC to get out of the way, and then we hear the sound of Romulan transporters on the other side of the blast door.

KAJYN: Maintenance access, this way!

As SALMA helps ARRIC into the maintenance access shaft, we hear Romulan transporters starting to beam in troops; SALMA closes the access point behind them just before the first troops finish beaming in.

The camera cuts to the other side of the blast door, where two squads of Romulan troops surround the Starfleet infiltrators. TAGGART sighs, and the Starfleeters surrender. A Romulan officer activates a holo-projector, and the hologram of GENERAL CHIREX appears.

ROMULAN: “Prisoners, General.”

CHIREX: “Ah, the boarding party. Captain Taggart, is it? I’m surprised to see you alive.”

TAGGART: Your Tal Shiar friends’ assassin failed. Next time, don’t send a child to do your dirty work.

CHIREX: “Well, there won’t be a next time, now that you’ve come to me. Centurion, take her to interrogation. Let’s find out what she knows. And now our other prisoners... a Commander and a ...cadet? Huh. Send the cadet to the brig; she’s not important. But send the Commander up to me.”

Cut back to the Tranquility’s bridge. QORDILYA has taken a spot at the elevated captain’s station.

QORDILYA: “IKS Chontay, I have an urgent message for your captain, please respond.”

KAIPO: Uh, you really think they’re going to care about an ‘urgent message’ from a podunk freighter?

QORDILYA: Point. “nItlu’, this is your daughter.”

NITLU’s face on the viewscreen bears a prominent scar.

NITLU: “qorDIlya’. Why do I find you on some stinking freighter?”

QORDILYA: “Mother. I need your help.”

NITLU: “Oh, do you, now? Does my lost targ need help finding home?”

QORDILYA: “I am where I belong.”

NITLU: “I think not, child. I see no scars on your face!”

QORDILYA sighs. ‘Alright, fine’, she mutters under her breath. ‘Have it your way.’

QORDILYA: “And I see too few on yours! Have you grown old and soft, Mother? I would like to offer you a glorious battle, but I fear you and your ship wouldn’t be up for the challenge. So I will not!”

KAIPO appears thoroughly confused; QORDILYA gestures to the effect of ‘it’s fine, I know what I’m doing’.

NITLU: “You will! You, daughter of mine, will not tease the prospect of glory before me! You will tell me where this battle shall be fought!”

QORDILYA: “Fine. Come to these coordinates, inside the Blood Gate Nebula, if you dare! There are Romulans to fight, if you do not cower at the thought of a cloaked foe.”

NITLU: “Romulans, you say?”

QORDILYA: “Indeed. They have a deep-space shipyard, at which they are building a Scimitar. We wish to destroy it.”

NITLU: “Very well, a worthy foe! I will see you there. Qapla!”

QORDILYA: “Qapla!”

QORDILYA ends the transmission.

Camera zooms out, pans across from the brown dwarf to the shipyard, where the runabouts are racing towards the docked Scimitar, Hopper and the Peregrines pouring on fire to keep the berth’s shields down long enough for the runabout teams to board. The Scimitar, still powering up, starts launching dozens of Scorpions in response. We zoom in on the Scimitar, past one of the runabouts to where it’s just beamed its team aboard - a team led by ORLAN LARENT. The Bajoran taps his commbadge.

ORLAN: “Hopper, this is Orlan. I am aboard with my team.”

VITUS (v/o): “Copy. You’re the fourth team to check in. Good luck in there.”

ORLAN: “Good luck out there.” Alright, let’s get that beacon set and form a perimeter.

Cut to bridge, IRW Raptor’s Claw. It’s brighter than on Shinzon’s Scimitar, though the layout is similar; there is, however, an extra seat below the viewscreen, with no associated console, facing CHIREX. Guards force T’VEL into this seat.

CHIREX: Welcome to the Raptor’s Claw, my dear Commander. Don’t worry, I have no intention of harming you. I simply wanted company while we destroy your ship. That is your ship out there, right?

T’VEL is silent.

CHIREX: You could at least be polite. 

Cut to brig, IRW Raptor’s Claw.

MEDVEDEVA stumbles into a small cell, propelled from the outside. The security field snaps into existence with a hum and the sound of boots and the laughter of the guards moves off down the corridor.

MEDVEDEVA glares out through the doorway before looking around the cell

Cut to a pile of the Starfleeters' gear heaped on a table in an empty room. The lid of MEDVEDEVA's toolkit suddenly lifts on a pair of mechanical arms.

Cut back to the cell. MEDVEDEVA finishes looking over the cell and leans against one wall, sliding down it with a sigh.

MEDVEDEVA: What I wouldn't give for a multitool right now.

MEDVEDEVA suddenly hears something coming from the cover to the air vent in the cell and looks up to see the handle of a multitool poking through the grating.

MEDVEDEVA: What the...

Cut to ORLAN’S perimeter, overwhelming a scratch Romulan security team. ORLAN has a troubled expression on his face, even as the last Romulan security officer goes down.

SECURITY ENSIGN: Sir, we beat these guys pretty handily.

ORLAN: Yes, but there’ll be more. We’re going to have to move the beacon.

As if to punctuate his point, an access shaft opens behind him --

ENSIGN: GET DOWN, SIR!

\-- and KAJYN pops his head out. The ENSIGN fires a snap shot; KAJYN ducks back, and the shot narrowly misses him.

SALMA (v/o): It’s alright, we’re friendly!

ORLAN: Lieutenant Ye Holena. Is Captain Taggart with you?

SALMA (v/o): No, sir.

ORLAN: Shit. Fine, make do with what we’ve got. Ramirez, stow the beacon. Let’s get going down that access shaft.

Cut to maintenance access, IRW Raptor’s Claw.

ORLAN: So, you’re all that’s left of Taggart’s team?

SALMA: Sorry, sir, but we got cut off.

ORLAN: Alright, we’ll just have to make do. Just ... fuck, I’m stuck with a couple of Cardie amateurs. 

LANARI: We’re veterans -

ORLAN: Of the Occupation? Of growing fat and happy off what you stole from us?

ARRIC: That was a bit before our time; we served in -

ORLAN: Oh, in the Dominion War, so much better! Were you on Betazed, perhaps?

ARRIC: Romulan front.

ORLAN: Doesn’t matter! You still were greasing the wheels of empire, you’re still fucking complicit, and it’s still bullshit that I’m stuck working with you -

ARRIC: No, what’s bullshit is that you’ve got a son, a granddaughter, and they’ve never fucking seen you! I don’t give a shit what you think of me - but I can’t respect a man who won’t be there for his family!

ORLAN: Oh fuck off! You want me to be happy about one of your people seducing my son?

ARRIC: I want -

KAJYN: I want both of you idiots to shut up and get moving, because I’m picking up company ahead!

Cut to an ‘interrogation’ room aboard IRW Raptor’s Claw. TAGGART is being led into the room by two Romulan guards; an INTERROGATOR watches impassively, then dismisses the guards once they’ve cuffed her into her chair. 

INTERROGATOR: You’re going to tell me everything I want to know.

TAGGART: I take it name, rank, and serial number won’t be enough?

Something is squeaking above the room.

INTERROGATOR: Oh, most definitely not. 

More squeaking noises.

INTERROGATOR: We’re going to be in here together a long time, you and I.

Still more squeaking noises.

INTERROGATOR: Oh, come on! I thought we got rid of those damn vol --

She’s cut off by the cover to the air vent in the ceiling falling off and hitting her in the head, knocking her out. MEDVEDEVA pops her head out of the vent.

MEDVEDEVA: Boy, those things are heavier than they look. 

Cut to exterior shot of USS Hopper and her fightercraft, and IKS Chontay, engaged with the few remaining Scorpions, the shipyard’s remaining defenses, and three small guard ships.

A photon torpedo streaks in towards one of the guardships - but it clearly wasn’t fired by the Hopper or the Chontay. Zoom out, and we see the tiny Nova-class starship USS Rhode Island, soon followed by two big Galaxy-class ships, a small Intrepid, a big Sovereign, two small Centaurs, and a fellow Turing-class ship. The squadron swiftly disables the guard ships, and sets to work on the shipyard itself.

Cut to bridge, USS Endurance. KORROK, the Endurance’s CAPTAIN and OTHER BRIDGE OFFICERS are present.

KORROK: “General Chirex, I would like to formally request your surrender.”

CHIREX (voiceover): “Oh, would you? I’ll pass.”

BRIDGE OFFICER: The Scimitar’s cloaking!

KORROK: Think he’s going to run?

VITUS (voiceover): If he does, I don’t think we can catch him, sir.

ANOTHER BRIDGE OFFICER: Sir, I’m detecting multiple warp signatures entering the system. They’re cloaked, but I’m pretty sure they’re Romulan. And they’re big ones, too.

CHIREX (voiceover): “Now then, Commodore Korrok, would you like to surrender? I’ll even let you go home, and we can just forget this unpleasantness ever happened. Or shall I have my fleet destroy yours?”

There’s a pause, as KORROK seems to be considering CHIREX’S offer, but then he frowns. Summoning up confidence he does not feel, he speaks.

KORROK: “You may try.”

Fifteen medium and heavy warbirds and ten light warbirds decloak. It’s the Pompara Blockade Fleet. And the Scimitar fires a barrage of twenty photon torpedoes.

KORROK: Well, he’s not running.

Cut to an access shaft, IRW Raptor’s Claw. MEDVEDEVA and TAGGART are crawling through it. MEDVEDEVA is carrying her toolkit, TAGGART, behind her, has a disruptor pistol she borrowed from her would-be interrogator.

MEDVEDEVA stops at a junction, then turns to face TAGGART..

MEDVEDEVA (whispered): Umm... 

TAGGART (whispered): Why are we stopping here, Cadet?

MEDVEDEVA (whispered): I’m… not sure where to go, ma’am. I... what are we supposed to do, just the two of us against an entire ship?

TAGGART (whispered): We do what we came here to do.

MEDVEDEVA (whispered): It just feels so impossible, ma’am.

TAGGART (whispered): We’re Starfleet. We do the impossible. You’ve got that within you, Iolanda - I promise you that. So let’s figure out where to start.

MEDVEDEVA (whispered): I don’t --

TAGGART puts a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder.

TAGGART (whispered): Start with the basics. The cloak - what can we do to disrupt it?

MEDVEDEVA closes her eyes and takes a deep breath

MEDVEDEVA (whispered): Well, we’ll never get through to the cloak itself, just the two of us, even if we did know where the control systems are ... but cloaks are energy-intensive and generate a lot of heat. Ma’am, if we can get into the engineering spaces of the ship, I can do a lot to disrupt that cloak.

TAGGART (whispered): There we go. Which way?

MEDVEDEVA punches up a translation program on her PADD and scans the markings on the wall.

MEDVEDEVA (whispered): Follow me, ma’am.

***

Open on bridge, IRW Raptor’s Claw.

T’VEL: Even if you win here, you’ll have lost, General.

CHIREX: Oh, this is rich! You continue to amuse me. Please, go on, explain.

T’VEL: In destroying a Starfleet squadron, you will be declaring war on the Federation.

CHIREX: Oh, will I now? I think it is quite clear that you attacked first, and in case you didn’t hear, I was perfectly willing to live and let live. No, I’m afraid the blame will fall on your Commodore Korrok. That said, if you’d like, after I consolidate power, I’d be happy to pay your homeworld a visit.

T’VEL frowns.

CHIREX: Aw. Right now, though, I have a battle to win. Let’s see... Ah, hell, I have a guest, might as well show off. Helm, set course 2-1-2; Comms, have Mogai Group follow us in, while Hlai Group covers. Our primary target is their S-Type, secondary are their G-types. Have Hlai Group keep the other ships engaged. 

COMMS OFFICER: Yessir.

CHIREX: I’m not sure you’ve got the best view of the tactical plot, Commander, so I’ll explain - we’re gunning straight for Korrok. Standard doctrine would say to pick off your smaller elements first, but I’m willing to bet you’ll back down once your flagship’s gone.  
‘  
T’VEL: I believe that is what would happen if your flagship is destroyed. You can't even begin to think like a Starfleeter. How unimaginative.

CHIREX bristles visibly.

Cut to tertiary engineering, IRW Raptor's Claw. We see ORLAN, SALMA, ARRIC, KAJYN, and LANARI talking, while Starfleet Security form a perimeter around Lt. RAMIREZ, who is setting the homing beacon; several Romulan and Reman crew lie stunned. ARRIC is visibly agitated.

ARRIC: What the fuck are we even doing here!? We’ve got to get to the brig to -

SALMA: Bro, calm down.

ARRIC: But T’Vel’s -

LANARI: State’s sake. We’ve got a job to do. Focus on that, sir.

ARRIC: But -

KAJYN: It’s six decks away from here, if I remember right. And I don’t even have to read minds to tell you that there’s a lot of people between you and there.

ARRIC: But I have to keep her safe -

ORLAN: You idiot. We’re not going to abandon the mission for whatever fantasy you’ve got in your head.

SALMA: Bro, we’re not exactly much safer right now. The only way to actually rescue T’Vel, Taggart, and Medvedeva is by ending this fight in a win.

ARRIC sighs, and slumps to the deck. LANARI pats him on the head.

ORLAN: How many beacons are transmitting?

LT. RAMIREZ: Three - no, just two now.

KAJYN: Maybe we don’t need all three to break through the cloak. Maybe there’s another way.

ORLAN: What do you have in mind?

KAJYN: We get the ship to vent something you guys can track; between that and the two beacons... 

LANARI: That’ll work once.

ORLAN: It’s a start.

KAJYN: There’s an emergency plasma venting system for the engines. Deck --.

The sound of disruptor fire cuts him off.

ORLAN: Or we head that way. Ramirez, grab the beacon and let’s go!

The group moves out, the camera following; soon, they come across and ambush a squad of Romulan crewers engaged in a firefight with ... someone. When the shooting stops, TAGGART and MEDVEDEVA become clearly visible.

TAGGART moves to talk to ORLAN while MEDVEDEVA starts removing a panel from the wall.

ORLAN: Ma’am, only two of our beacons are operating. However, we have a plan to make the ship visible through the cloak anyway.

TAGGART: So do we. 

MEDVEDEVA: We’re destroying as many peripheral systems important to the cloak’s function as we can find.

She punctuates this by blasting a power junction box. The lights flicker.

KAJYN: ... that’s a better plan.

Cut to Endurance bridge. The ship shudders under torpedo impacts and disruptor fire.

TACTICAL: Shields at 52 - 48 - now 42%! 

ChENG (v/o): We’ve had a lot of burnthrough, mostly crew spaces - but significant damage to phaser arrays 3 through 6. We should have them back online in twenty.

Endurance CAPTAIN: Understood.

SENSORS: Oh great, another wave. I count thirty-five torpedoes inbound. Just ten from the Scimitar, this time, I think? Still can’t get a solid lock on her, sorry, ma’am.

TACTICAL: That’s too many for the shields to take.

Endurance CAPTAIN: Alright, so we’ll just have to not get hit. Helm, evasive maneuvers, pattern theta-3.

HELM: Yes, ma’am.

The torpedoes continue to track, despite Endurance’s maneuvering. KORROK holds his breath...

SENSORS: Sir, incoming warp signature ... they’re Starfleet. It’s the Courageous!

KORROK exhales.

And a second Sovereign leaves warp just in front of the incoming torpedoes. USS Courageous is unable to evade, and takes the brunt of the impact on her shields; several torpedoes penetrate through, and the ship shakes under the impacts. But Endurance is safe for now.

And the two Sovereigns return fire, battering down the shields of a pair of heavy warbirds. A small Centaur takes advantage, dashing in for a close-range torpedo volley that leaves one crippled - and the Centaur is in turn attacked by a pair of light warbirds.

Cut to IRW Raptor’s Claw bridge.

CHIREX: Weapons, what’s wrong with our torpedo launchers?

WEAPONS OFFICER: Sir, I’m not sure. I sent a maintenance crew from tertiary engineering, but they haven’t reported back yet.

T’VEL: Perhaps you should not have gone into battle with a ship that is not quite finished.

CHIREX: She’s operational enough so far.

T’VEL: That remains to be seen.

More Starfleet ships slowly arrive as the battle continues: in all, two Intrepids, four midsized Cheyennes, an Akira and a Galaxy - the last one warping in just in time to attack a medium warbird closing on the visibly damaged Hopper. 

Cut to USS Hopper bridge, which has seen better days. VITUS is slumped on the floor, badly injured, as are several other bridge officers; VALARA has taken his chair. 

VALARA: “ChENG, status report.”

MARIKA (v/o): “Well, the good news is, I’ve got partial shields back up! Plus, I can still give you, uh, quarter-impulse power. Warp’s down. Weapons are a no go, too, sorry, though maybe I can manage something with the nav deflector?“

VALARA: “Quarter won’t be enough. Do better.”

MARIKA (v/o): “I’m giving it all I’ve got!”

VALARA: “GIve it what you don’t got, then. I don’t care how much damage you do to the engines’ long-term health. I don't even care if they die tomorrow. I just want us to live to tomorrow, and for that we’ll need more. You got that?”

MARIKA (v/o): “Got it!”

VALARA: “Which decks are we most in danger of losing structural integrity on? I want those decks evacuated now. Weapons are useless? Then evac those sections too.” And Computer? Give me helm control. I am going to keep as many of us alive as I godsdamn well can, or die trying.

Exterior view, IRW Raptor’s Claw. The cloak is sputtering, and sections of the ship are becoming visible. Cut to bridge, IRW Raptor’s Claw

BRIDGE OFFICER: Sir, I’ve just heard from our engineering team in Cloak Control; they say the problem is in tertiary engineering. Shall I send a repair team?

CHIREX: Tertiary engineering ... hmm. Ah, more boarders. Send a security detachment as well.

BRIDGE OFFICER: Yessir.

CHIREX turns his attention back to the battle.

CHIREX: Ugh. Have you people never heard of concentration of force? No, you have to come at us in dribs and drabs. Fine. “All ships, focus on their cruisers and frigates.”

On the screen, we see USS Turing coming into view; a heavy warbird and a trio of light warbirds close on the Starfleet carrier, and Raptor’s Claw adds her own disruptors. The Turing desperately tries to maneuver, but is hard-pressed... and soon explodes in a blinding flash - a warp core breach.

The Raptor’s Claw suddenly shudders, as we see four flights of Turing’s Peregrines pass by, launching torpedoes at close range; they detonate against the shields, followed by a quantum torpedo from the Rhode Island.

BRIDGE OFFICER: Shields now at 89 - no, 82%. 

CHIREX: Manageable. 

T’VEL: For the moment. 

Cut to tertiary engineering, IRW Raptor’s Claw. A squad of Reman troops led by a Romulan is moving in to engage the Starfleeters. The two sides exchange fire from cover for a bit, then the fire from the Starfleet side dies down.

KAJYN (v/o): Kexiv? Mexara? Is that you two?

KEXIV: ... Kajyn? What the hell are you doing here?

ROMULAN: Shoot them!

KAJYN (v/o): I should ask you the same. When we fought for Shinzon, we fought for liberation, taking the fight to the bastards on the surface. And now you're gonna work for them? Die for them? For what?

ROMULAN: What are you waiting for? Engage the enemy!

The Reman squad does not move. The troopers look at each other, waiting for someone to make a decision. 

KAJYN (v/o): Kexiv, didn’t you have a cousin on Tyrrix? She’s dead now, thanks to your side’s thalaron generator.

Then KEXIV shoots the Romulan. 

MEXARA: We’re coming out! Don’t shoot!

The camera follows the Reman squad as they move to link up with the Starfleeters.

ORLAN and TAGGART look at the Remans, then at the rest of their force, then at each other.

ORLAN: How far to cloaking control?

KEXIV: Two decks down. We can get you there.

TAGGART: Good man. 

Cut to bridge, IRW Raptor’s Claw.

BRIDGE OFFICER: Shields at 69%, sir.

CHIREX sighs. T’VEL has a slight smirk.

CHIREX: Status on repairs to our cloak?

ANOTHER BRIDGE OFFICER: Unknown - tertiary engineering reports that repairs are in progress, but we have lost contact with Cloak Control, sir.

CHIREX: Troubling. Send a security detachment down.

ANOTHER BRIDGE OFFICER: Yessir.

SENSOR OFFICER: Sir, incoming warp signatures! Twelve in all.

CHIREX appears surprised.

T’VEL: These are not yours, then, General?

Four D’Deridex heavy warbirds, three Nhaidh medium warbirds, and five T’Varo light warbirds decloak. All older models, all painted in the colors of the Union Fleet.

COMMS OFFICER: We are being hailed, audio only.

TIARU JAROK (v/o): “General, I can’t stand to even look at your face. We know what you’ve done --”

CHIREX: “Why, Admiral Jarok! What an unexpected surprise. As you can see, Starfleet is attempting to suppress us Romulans, keep us from building the ships we need to defend ourselves --”

JAROK (v/o): “You’re lying. We know you have a thalaron generator installed in your ship, and that you are working with the Tal Shiar. Your truce with the Union Fleet is over.”

CHIREX: “Is this how you treat an old friend?”

JAROK (v/o): “No. This is how I treat a former friend.”

BRIDGE OFFICER: Plasma torpedoes inbound! Twelve tracking towards us, four towards each of our Valdores.

CHIREX: Helm, please do try to avoid some of these. Weapons, return fire, concentrate on ... the second of their D’Deridexes.

T’VEL: Not the lead ship? 

CHIREX: Jarok will come around, I’m sure of it. 

WEAPONS OFFICER: Thirteen torpedoes away, sir.

T’VEL: Thirteen. Less than half of your launchers fired.

CHIREX: Yes, yes, I’m aware of that. 

T’VEL: General, there is still time to surrender.

CHIREX: Commander, why should I surrender when I still have the upper hand?

Cut to Cloak Control. The Starfleet, Tranquility, and Reman team has set themselves up; MEDVEDEVA and LANARI are systematically dismantling the cloak. RAMIREZ is sitting near TAGGART, operating another piece of equipment - a comms booster.

TAGGART: “I understand, Lieutenant. Just wreak as much havoc as you can up there.” Okay, team two, now -

An access shaft opens up, and a disruptor rifle fires, hitting RAMIREZ. ORLAN returns fire, and the sniper does not get a second shot. TAGGART tries to operate the comms booster herself.

TAGGART: “Boarding team two, this is Captain Taggart. Report in, please.”

Static.

TAGGART: Dammit, why did Hopper get stuck with Type-1s... Anyone know how to operate these?

Silence. Then ARRIC walks over.

ARRIC: Ma’am, I was a comms specialist with the Cardassian Defense Force. We pretty much copied your Type-1 comms booster.

TAGGART: Alright. Let’s get to work.

Exterior shot of the battle. As the D’Deridexes and Nhaidhs and T’Varos of the Union Fleet’s squadron press the attack, we follow their torpedoes, tracking one in particular as it makes for the hull of the Raptor's Claw. It explodes against the shields, and the camera shudders as it crosses through to the interior of the hull, where we see huddled Starfleet personnel (including ORLAN, TAGGART, SALMA, and MEDVEDEVA), Remans, and KAJYN, ARRIC, and LANARI, trading shots with Romulan and loyal Reman troops as they continue to try to defend cloaking control.

The Raptor's Claw crew stop firing suddenly.

TAGGART: They’ve stopped.

ORLAN: They’re waiting for something.

A hologram of GENERAL CHIREX appears.

CHIREX: “Captain Taggart. I have fifty-five Starfleet prisoners aboard this vessel.”

Cut to Bridge. 

CHIREX: “Some of them are your comrades, others we’ve taken from the battle you’re losing in space. If you do not surrender immediately, I will be forced to --”

T’VEL: This is illogical, General.

CHIREX: Is this how a Vulcan begs for her life?

T’VEL: There is no begging involved, merely simple logic. You have provided no incentive for my comrades to surrender.

CHIREX: They get to live. You get to live. Or would you like me to shoot you now?

T’VEL: They have no reason to trust you. They know as well as I do, as well as everyone in Romulan space does by now, that you have destroyed entire colonies out of hand. They know what is at stake.

TAGGART (v/o): “She’s right. We will not surrender.”

CHIREX: “Then you will die.”

T’VEL: They will not yield Cloak Control easily to you. When you do retake it, it will be severely damaged. You may, perhaps, have time to escape before Jarok and Korrok’s fleets destroy you. But the Tal Shiar does not look kindly upon failures. Do you expect to live much longer? Do you expect your senior officers to?

CHIREX stares at his bridge crew. They stare back. He cuts the holo-projector.

Cut back to Cloak Control. 

TAGGART: Then that’s it.

She steadies her phaser, trained out towards the enemy. ARRIC activates the comms booster.

ARRIC: “What’s the matter, General? Can’t stand to watch us die? Have you lost your nerve?”

Cut back to the bridge. The ship shakes under another impact.

WEAPONS OFFICER: We’ve got bleedthrough. Pulse Disruptor #51 is down, sir.

BRIDGE OFFICER: Sir, we’ve just lost the Charvanek.

CHIREX sighs, then taps at his console.

CHIREX: Commander. Will your Federation guarantee the safety of my officers?

T’VEL: Yes. 

CHIREX: Very well. Comms, open a channel to all ships. “Attention all hands, all ships. This is General Chirex. Stand down. To Commodore Korrok: I wish to discuss the terms of my fleet’s surrender.”

A BRIDGE OFFICER stands up.

BRIDGE OFFICER: You will not escape the consequences of your failure!

She fires a disruptor at CHIREX - only for the shot to bounce off a forcefield. She does not live to take a second shot.

CHIREX: You’re right. I won’t. Commander Turek, make sure that their terms are reasonable.

TUREK: Sir?

CHIREX sighs. TUREK nods, understanding.

T’VEL: We can arrange for you to be tried by Federation courts -

CHIREX: A life spent in prison? I don’t think so. Farewell.

Fade out.


	5. Season 1, episode 5: Aftermath

Fade in.

Open on Captain’s Quarters aboard the Tranquility. T’VEL and ARRIC are sitting across from each other at his table, entirely focused on each other. 

T’VEL: It is illogical, but I felt a distinct sense of relief, hearing your voice calling the bridge, even though I knew that Chirex was about to have his troops shoot you.

ARRIC: You knew I was alive. Just like how hearing you arguing with him - it gave me hope, knowing you were still there.

T’VEL: Even though he was about to shoot me?

ARRIC: I - somehow, I was sure he wouldn’t shoot you.

T’VEL: I am curious as to your logic behind that.

ARRIC: There wasn’t any, really. Just... a sense that the universe wouldn’t bend that way - wouldn’t let you die - at least, not until I’d told you how I felt.

T’VEL: Fascinating. 

ARRIC: T’Vel, I find you a remarkable, fascinating -- Let me try that again. T’Vel, I find I desire -- no, no, that doesn’t sound right. T’Vel, there’s something you need to know -- state’s sake, I’m a comms specialist, you’d think I’d be able to get the words out --

T’VEL: You love me.

ARRIC: Yeah, that. Yeah. I love you, T’Vel.

T’VEL starts to reach across the table, but then pulls back.

T’VEL: I - there’s something you need. To know. About me.

ARRIC nods.

T’VEL: Something I need to let myself say. You have accused my people on multiple occasions of being emotionless. As you know, we are not; instead, we suppress our emotions. And for a very long time, I suppressed a part of myself.

ARRIC leans forward. T’Vel is visibly nervous.

T’VEL: I am not female, Arric. For a very long time, I forced myself to be - to act as though I was, but I am done with that now. I still need to figure out who I am, but I know who I am not. You - you need to know that - that you loved a phantom of who I was. Of who I am. I’m sorry if that changes how you feel...

ARRIC lets out a breath. He’s ... actually not all that surprised by this, now that he thinks about it. And ... he’s sure of how he feels, now, still.

ARRIC: Alright. So you’re not a woman. But you’re still T’Vel - well, still you, whatever name you choose to go by. If anything, you’re only going to be more you.

ARRIC smiles. T’VEL raises an eyebrow.

ARRIC: My feelings towards you are unchanged.

T’VEL: Fascinating.

T’VEL slips off their gloves, then leans forward, their bare fingers tantalizingly close to ARRIC’S. After a moment to recall the significance of their action, his breath quickens; the Vulcan smiles.

T’VEL: Shall we explore our mutual feelings?

The camera pans out as the two let their fingers touch - a Vulcan kiss - and trace patterns around each other’s hands. We’ll leave these two for now.

Zoom out of the ship, and over to a Peregrine, flying towards the Rhode Island. At the controls are SALMA and QORDILYA.

QORDILYA: This is stupid. 

SALMA: If it were stupid, you wouldn’t be here, bro.

QORDILYA: Rhode Island’s probably damaged -

SALMA: You heard them. She’s small, fast, tough, and relatively inconsequential, so she got mostly ignored.

QORDILYA: He’s probably busy -

SALMA: Busy doing what? No astros here for any physicsing to be done. 

QORDILYA: You sure do have a way with words. But anyways, this is still stupid - what if I don’t like him -

SALMA: You saw his picture, and told me yourself - he’s definitely still cute. And if you don’t get along in person, well, now you’ll know.

QORDILYA: I’m sure he doesn’t remember me -

SALMA: All the better - no preconceptions, bro. 

QORDILYA: Do we even have anything in common -

SALMA: Well, let’s see, you’re both scientists in Starfleet, and didn’t you say you dabbled in some astrophysics yourself? And besides, does it matter much? He’s a cute guy, you’re a cute gal who likes to smash with cute guys. Just go for it, bro!

QORDILYA: This is still stupid. But thanks.

SALMA: Any time, bro.

We cut to the wrecked Hopper, and zoom in on two figures spacewalking over the saucer: VALARA DEVA and ALENIS MARIKA.

VALARA (via comms): “Still can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

MARIKA (via comms): “I find it really helps to get an actual look at the scale of the damage done, not just see it on the diagnostics!”

VALARA (via comms): “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter for me?”

MARIKA (via comms): “Until T’Vel gets back, you’re captain. And considering our relatively low casualty count, I really wanted to make it clear just how much damage the ship itself took, and yet still survived.”

VALARA (via comms): “That’s on you, isn’t it?”

MARIKA (via comms): “From what I heard, you were on helm. And besides, you were in charge.”

VALARA (via comms): “So you’re saying you’re mad at me for wrecking the ship, and this is punishment?”

MARIKA (via comms): “No, I’m amazed at how well you fought her that she took this much damage and survived with her crew relatively intact. From when you took command, we took just 15 further casualties, despite suffering serious further structural damage, like, well, this.”

MARIKA and VALARA are overlooking a massive gouge in the saucer.

VALARA (via comms): “My first command, and she’s a fucking wreck.”

MARIKA (via comms): “We’ll fix her.”

The camera swings back to the Tranquility, entering the Miran family quarters. We see PRIETA sitting on the bed, a pained look on her face. KAIPO enters, and walks over to her, taking a seat beside her. 

PRIETA: Kaipo? What’re you doing here? Thought you’d be with Salma.

KAIPO: Salma? Why would I want her, when I’ve got you?

PRIETA: Last I checked, I’m neither Orion nor a kickass pilot.

KAIPO: Don’t need to be.

And now CRETEKA enters, and also walks over to their bed, sitting next to PRIETA as well.

PRIETA: Okay, now you definitely shouldn’t be here.

CRETEKA: Had enough doctoring for the day. 

She smiles slyly.

CRETEKA: Well, almost. You see...

She brings a hand up to stroke PRIETA’S face. The Cardassian smiles.

KAIPO: We’ve got this experimental treatment we’d like to try on you.

He gently strokes PRIETA’S neck ridge. She sighs softly.

CRETEKA: Might help speed up your recovery.

PRIETA grins.

PRIETA: I’m all for it.

CRETEKA: Good.

The two each kiss PRIETA in turn, then gently push her down onto the bed, hands slipping under clothing...

The camera very quickly pans away, and switches over to Guest Quarters, where TALIS, ZISFIR (over as a guest), and SHEARI are getting ready for bed. CORVAN enters.

CORVAN: Ms. Velal?

TALIS turns to face CORVAN.

TALIS: Yes, Ms. Hrient?

CORVAN: I ... I don’t think I want to go by that name. I don’t much like what she did - what she was.

TALIS: Alright. What brings you here, under whatever name you choose?

CORVAN: I suppose I’m looking for ... something. A fresh start. That’s what Union Fleet offers, right? A fresh start?

TALIS: I wouldn’t know much about that.

CORVAN: Oh, really? You, ex-Tal Diann officer, sister of a Union Fleet diplomat, wouldn’t know much about that?

TALIS: What do you want?

CORVAN: To serve the Romulan people.

TALIS nods.

The camera pans further on over to the bridge, where TAGGART is standing temporarily at the captain’s station. On the viewscreen is KORROK.

KORROK: So, now what?

TAGGART: Sir?

KORROK: Now what happens to Romulan space?

TAGGART: Well. That’s not in our hands, sir. Nor in the Tal Shiar’s hands, I don’t think - not after today. Maybe it’ll be in the hands of the Romulan people for a change.

KORROK: That may well be.

TAGGART: How about you, sir?

KORROK: Well, I gave Starfleet its bloodiest day in 15 years, but then again, we stopped the Tal Shiar from getting their hands on a superweapon, so ... I guess it balances out?

TAGGART: They’ll pin a medal on you or fire you. You’re making the news either way.

KORROK shrugs.

KORROK: It’ll be an interesting Board of Inquiry, that’s for sure.

TAGGART: Relax. You’ll do fine, sir.

KORROK: I can’t help but feel like I got lucky. We were outnumbered until the end, outgunned throughout, and yet we won. I still can’t quite figure out how.

TAGGART: I’ll have to see the final tactical analysis, but I think you’ll just have to accept that you’re a competent tactician after all, sir. Perhaps Fleet Command knew what they were doing choosing you.

KORROK: Perish the thought.

TAGGART: Will that be all?

KORROK: Yes, I think that about wraps things up.

KORROK ends the transmission. 

TAGGART walks back to the cargo bay, the camera following. She meets up with MEDVEDEVA.

MEDVEDEVA: Ma’am?

TAGGART: Cadet. You did good work out there. Now, you could stick with Engineering. It’s good work; Starfleet always needs good engineers. But ... 

TAGGART pulls out a PADD.

TAGGART: Could I interest you in a job with Intelligence instead?

***

Establishing shot of KORROK’S squadron. Zoom in on Tranquility, and on into the ship’s mess. T’VEL (dressed in one of ARRIC’S outfits, but not wearing their usual gloves) and ARRIC are up early, and are preparing breakfast - feyt (a Cardassian legume dish), krei’la (a Vulcan flatbread), and spiced tea. TAGGART walks in.

TAGGART: I thought it was my turn on the rotation?

Indeed, a quick cut shows that it was, in fact, her turn. ARRIC laughs.

T’VEL: It is. What we are preparing is for us.

TAGGART: “Us.” Ah, that explains what you’re wearing.

T’VEL: It is more complex than that, but I do not wish to explain right now.

TAGGART: I see. Well then. I’d hate to spoil your meal, but I really should fill you in, Commander.

T’VEL takes a seat.

T’VEL: Go ahead.

TAGGART: So. Your ship’s pretty much an immobile wreck. Under the circumstances, your casualties were relatively light - 8% of the flight group, plus 92 casualties aboard ship and a further 33 aboard the Raptor’s Claw. Unfortunately, one of those casualties was your captain.

T’VEL nods.

ARRIC: I’m sorry to hear that.

T’VEL: Will Hopper be repaired?

TAGGART: That’s up to Fleet Command, but I think you’ve certainly earned it. In the meantime, though ...well, you don’t have a ship to return to at the moment, and I don’t have much of a mission right now. They’ll probably ask for my testimony at the Board of Inquiry, but after that... I was thinking about taking some leave time. I think you should, too.

LANARI walks in. Seeing TAGGART, a confused look crosses the Cardassian’s face.

LANARI: I would’ve thought you’d be gone by now. 

TAGGART: Not quite yet. I have some business to wrap up here.

LANARI: About that ...

As TAGGART and LANARI discuss the finer points of their contract, ARRIC pulls the krei’la out of the oven, plates it, and brings it over along with the feyt. He takes a seat next to T’VEL, smiling warmly; they smile back, and when he goes to cut off a piece of the flatbread, they place their hand on top of his. The two lock eyes on each other.

T’VEL raises an eyebrow.

ARRIC: Oh.

KAJYN walks in.

KAJYN: Er... is this a bad time?

ARRIC sighs, and reluctantly looks up. 

ARRIC: Uh... no. What is it?

KAJYN: I’ve arranged a transport contract. Kexiv and his squad are interested in resettling on Ixus. I just wanted to make sure we can make room for them.

ARRIC: I... think so? Check with Lanari. 

PRIETA, CRETEKA, and KAIPO walk in.

PRIETA: I told you there’d be -- wait.

ARRIC looks apologetic; T’VEL looks vaguely smug. 

CRETEKA: Ah, congrats to both of you?

KAIPO: We, uh, we kinda had something we need to tell the entire crew. 

CRETEKA: This is going to be our last season in Romulan space, at least until things get much more secure.

PRIETA: That goes for my husband as well.

KAIPO: I think I’ve had more than enough adventure for a lifetime, thanks.

ARRIC: Moving on for good, then, at last? We’ll miss you.

PRIETA: Possibly. Though we’ve got an alternative.

CRETEKA: We, as a ship, could move on from Romulan space - find somewhere safer.

LANARI: I’d be concerned about our profit margins.

KAIPO: There’s a lot of trade happening in the old DMZ - and, yes, it might be tricky for a Cardassian freighter, but maybe less so for one with a Bajoran pilot?

PRIETA: We could base out of DS9 - the runs would be a hell of a lot shorter, so we could probably bring Zii aboard more often.

TAGGART: I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest moving to the Federation itself. There’s definitely room for independent traders, and I could probably get you an actual legal permit for that cloak of yours.

ARRIC: It’d be a big move, wherever we wind up. We’ll have to think about it. But it’s definitely worth considering.

CRETEKA: I appreciate it.

ZISFIR (v/o): “Hey, Mom, Dad, Maw? We’ve got a visitor coming by in five. Meet me in the transporter room.”

Cut to transporter room, Tranquility, where the MIRAN family is waiting. KAIPO is standing between a nervous PRIETA and a serene CRETEKA, their daughter in front of the trio.

PRIETA: I - I should change - 

KAIPO: You look fine.

PRIETA: You sure?

CRETEKA: Relax.

KAIPO gives PRIETA a quick peck on the cheek; she kisses him back.

ORLAN (v/o): “Tranquility, this is shuttle COBOL, stand by for transport.”

ZISFIR leans over to push the wall-mounted comm panel.

KAIPO: “Acknowledged. We’re ready, COBOL.”

ORLAN (v/o): “I should have done this a long time ago. Energize.”

And ORLAN beams aboard.

***

Establishing shot of Tranquility orbiting Tyrrix, then cut to the surface, where KAJYN, KEXIV and MEXARA are standing near the entrance to the farmhouse KAJYN had investigated earlier that summer, looking at the bare, dead soil.

KEXIV: I didn't know her all that well. Maybe if I'd known her better, I could've convinced her not to go - not to wind up here.

MEXARA rests a hand on KEXIV's shoulder.

KEXIV: Somewhere, either in there or out here, she died. Died in agony, not knowing why, not knowing what from.

KAJYN: I'm sorry. If it's any comfort, I read over her diaries, and she was happy, up until ...

KEXIV: Up until they took that away from her.

KEXIV takes out a small gem from his pocket and buries it in the dirt.

KEXIV: Mianarix, we remember you.

Cut to USS Rhode Island, orbiting Ocutis, then cut to the surface, where QORDILYA is leading a small team of scientists, including a Romulan wearing Union Fleet colors, through diseased fields, regularly stopping and taking cuttings from the plants. The old FARMER from Tranquility's visit to Ocutis accompanies them.

FARMER: You really think you can fix this?

QORDILYA: We found a lot of information in the databanks of General Chirex's flagship, and I'm confident that between that and what we find here, we will win the battle against this blight.

ROMULAN: Union Fleet takes care of her own. We'll help you guys back on your feet. I promise.

***

Open on Tranquility bridge, several days later, where we see ZISFIR and ARRIC at the bridge, KAIPO at the pilot’s station, CRETEKA and LANARI at the secondary stations.

ZISFIR: “Ship’s Log, Starship Tranquility. Mission Day 79. We are set to arrive at Ixus Two, with no cargo and ...”

ZISFIR touches the comm panel.

ZISFIR: Mr. Kexiv, are you and your friends ready to depart?

KEXIV (v/o): “Yes, ma’am.”

ZISFIR: Excellent. Velal, are you three ready?

SHEARI (v/o): “Yes, we are all ready.”

ZISFIR: Good to hear. And Mx. T’Vel, would you care to join us?

T’VEL (v/o): “I will be at the bridge shortly.”

ZISFIR: Good to hear. “Twelve passengers, eleven departing, all accounted for. Crew manifest unchanged. ETA...”

ZISFIR leans forward to look at the display on ARRIC’S console.

ZISFIR: “One minute to system entry, 24 minutes to docking with Ixus Station.”

The bridge door opens; T’VEL, gloveless, wearing the outfit CRETEKA tailored for them, steps onto the bridge.

ARRIC: Nicely done. Mind taking the captain’s station for a bit, Zii?

LANARI snorts; ZISFIR grins. ARRIC steps down the ladder and joins T’VEL; the Vulcan takes hold of his hand.

KAIPO: Captain, permission to take us in a bit early?

ZISFIR and ARRIC: Granted.

The bridge crew laughs, T’VEL grins, and even LANARI smiles. KAIPO takes the Tranquility out of warp. Traffic is clearly visible in the system.

KAIPO: Welcome to Ixus, folks. 

Fade out.

Credits.


End file.
